Neverland's Plight
by WideEyedDreamer01
Summary: "No, Ally. It's time to let go of that silly prejudice. I think you'd quite like him if you forgot his last name," my father said, humor biting at his tone. I snorted. "And if hell froze over," I retorted. He lowered his voice. "Ally, we need an alliance with that family. He hesitated, before continuing gravely. "Dark things are stirring." Try it! Full summary inside
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! So after much deliberation and months ghosting around on FanFiction, I'm putting the full summary for Neverland's Plight up :) PLEASE be nice to me and I'll welcome any and all constructive critisism...I'm new here and don't really know how this all works! So just go ahead and read the summary. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own the original Peter Pan storyline (if only!) But all characters and ideas in this summary are my own :)**

All has been peaceful at Neverland for more than two hundred years. The three major families, Hook, Pan and Darling have managed to co-exist peacefully since the time of their ancestors- the Hooks live on the coast, the Darlings in the major town and the Pans in the midst of the Wildwood Forest. But times are becoming unsteady, and as vicious attacks implicate the infamous Hook family are up to their dastardly acts once again, a marraige is arranged between Andre Pan and Mirella Darling. When Andre Pan disappears from Neverland to rejoin the OtherWorld, Neverland is thrown into chaos as he's rumoured to have joined the Darkworlde, implicating the reckless, ambitious Pan family to be behind the evil.

Shadowed Creatures are discovered lurking in the treacherous Skull mountains and it becomes apparent that the creatures of the Darkeworlde are plotting to take over Neverland, and when better than a time with all three Guardian families in turmoil...

William Darling, James Hook and Ally Pan are brought together as the heirs and protectors of their families, but when her father falls ill, fate will turn to Ally to decide where she will make her alliance... But who is she to trust, when Skull Cave was an old Hook haunt, and the Town attacks occurred outside the Darling residence? As friend turns on friend, will they be able to save Neverland, or will the second star to the right be extinguished forever? Following in the footsteps of her ancestor, Ally Pan must decide who to trust in a battle of dark and light, of love and reason, of hidden agendas and forbidden romance, of perfection and passion...

** Like it? Love it? Hate it? Want me to continue? Let me know! Em xx**


	2. Chapter 1: Dawn

**AN: This is the first "real" chapter, I really hope you guys like it! And it would be super great it you could review and tell me just what you did or didn't like :)**

I'm standing in front of the mirror, a pair of my mother's sewing scissors in hand. I stare at the girl who calmly, solemnly looks back at me from the old-fashioned glass. She's almost unrecognizable. My life has changed more in mere months than I could ever have though possible. I have become stronger, tougher, because I had to be. I always used to be short and curvy- now, I'm lean, tough and scrawny- it doesn't suit me, but it's a fact. The laughing, trusting Aliandra Pan I used to be had gone now, replaced by a grim faced girl with a pale face and haunted eyes. Yes, I have changed completely- except for one thing. My hair. It seems stupid in the face of all of this to be worrying about such a trivial thing, such a vain thing, having long hair. Now, that trivial little thing would change too. But bringing my eyes to my hair, freshly washed, a brown and gold mess falling just shy of my waist and curling damply, suddenly I couldn't force myself to. Maybe because I am vain, vainer than I'd ever admit. Maybe because so much of me had changed against my will, hanging on to something that I had the power not to change seemed like a necessity. Maybe I wanted to keep my long hair in the hopes that someday, after all this was finished, the innocent, carefree teenager I had been could come back, and she'd have something to remind her of how things used to be. So I set the scissors down, and glanced around. I didn't have to be anywhere right now, a rarity, and I closed my eyes, listening to the clock tick away steadily. Somehow I found myself thinking about when it all had started...

* * *

It was dawn when I opened my eyes.

The half an hour after darkness had left, but the world wasn't quite stirring yet was my favourite, and today, like every day, I intended to make the most of it. It seemed as if the second after my feet hit the rough but well-worn timber floor, I was running. Running out of my small, warm bedroom, through our large house, the long corridors where the barest hints of sunlight were beginning to throw shadows on the walls. I wove silently through toys, food, sleeping animals across our living room floor, the remnants of a large family that, darkened, looked slightly eerie. And then finally I was out; I burst through the door and into the fresh spring morning that had an electric air and seemed to hold endless possibilities. Suddenly, I halted, taking a heartbeat to absorb the morning. Excitement. Adventure. The forest's unspoken words struck a chord deep within me, and, impatient to chase them, I took off once again.

Soon I was running through the thick of the forest, my bare feet flying over the small brooks, sticks and stones as if they weren't even there. The trees, though thick set, seemed easier than ever to dodge. I had been running Neverland's forests almost since the day I could walk, I knew them as if they were a part of me. Yet still I was always surprised with what it had in store; the sense of wonderment that filled me when I was here never went away. It always seemed like the forest had something to tell me, voices whispering, beckoning me to come and discover them. I had spent hours doing just that, but today, that wasn't my plan. It was one of those mornings when I needed to feel alive. Needed to hear my feet pound against the earth, feel the cool wind that almost caressed my cheeks and taste the earthy but light scent that belonged to the waking forest. I felt completely, utterly free as my long hair rushed behind me and the overgrown bushes whipped at my legs and hands. Did I know why I was running? No. Did I care? Even less. I could see the sharp plunge of the Orain Gorge looming ahead of me, and I smiled, willing my legs to move faster. Bidding the forest goodbye for this morning the trees thinned and then disappeared in favour of a small green clearing. I crossed it in three or four long, final strides before I threw myself off the jagged edge of the sheer, unforgiving drop, down two hundred feet where dark, violently blue water and large boulders made the delta that connected the rivers to the sea. I grinned as I plummeted, stretching my fingertips out above me and feeling like the luckiest person alive. As usual, I let myself fall until my toes just brushed the tallest of the evergreen trees, leaves damp with dew.

Then, I stretched out my arms, and _flew._

**Like it? Why/not? Em xx**


	3. Chapter 2: The Day Ahead

**AN: This is a quick update but the story is getting easier to write for some reason...I haven't had ANY reviews yet, I'd really love some, even just a simple one liner! Note: Some language in this chapter might be..offensive?**

_Previously: As usual, I let myself fall until my toes just brushed the tallest trees. Then, I stretched out my arms and flew._

I soared quickly above the treetops, up, up, up, until I was almost breathless from the thin air. I lay down, nestling in the soft, albeit wet clouds (we'd have rain today, yuck) and let myself relax. Suddenly I grinned, and shot up farther again, unable to contain myself. I loved flying. Just looovvveeed it. I decided to do a lazy circle of the island, just for fun. On the other side of the Gorge was Skull Island, and inherently, I shivered. It was the only place in Neverland I was not completely comfortable with. Even on the brightest of days, like this one, it still managed to look ominous. It was a maze of treacherous forests and caves, jagged rocks and dark shadows-on a good day. Skull Cave was a little inlet on the north side, I'd been there a few times. It faced out towards the sea and could serve as a decent port, but none of the townspeople would ever go near it. Satisfied nothing on Skull Island was going to be a threat for today (yeah, as if) I made my way back, flying over the forest I'd ran through this morning, casting an eye over the Indian settlement on the east side, then the long, winding crystal-blue late that was inhabited by our mermaids, dotted among more trees where more of our Faeries lived. The lagoon looked beautiful today, I could see some of the mermaids out already- the sun was breaking, pale but determined over the puffy, scattered clouds, making its streaks of pink, yellow and scarlet violently over the horizon. Then there was the town, the busiest part of Neverland. It was fairly large, home to about a hundred thousand people, and I loved the winding streets and quaint old buildings; it was almost as mysterious as my forest. The port was at the very south of the island, where a few ships were docked; I could see fishermen already up with the sun and making their own preparations for the day. I let myself drift with the wind over to the west side, where the forest took over once again, and there were fewer houses and another large Faerie population. The nomadic Wildwood wanderers were known to live there for quite a lot of the year as well. Suddenly there was a whoosh, and I turned instinctively to see an angel's head pop up from beneath a cloud, wings flapping hurriedly and her pretty cheeks flushed pink with the exertion of keeping up. My best friend grinned at me, sitting cross-legged on a cloud.

"Morning, Ally," she sang, her eyes bright and alive.

"Hey, Darce," I smiled. Darcey was a Faerie- whose people, like mine, had been here as far back as anyone could remember. She was human enough, I supposed, apart from the fact that she possessed both wings and magical powers. Oh, yeah, and she was like, the most beautiful creature since...well..Tinkerbelle. Her features were small, dainty and pixie-like, with big round purple eyes, raspberry red lips and creamy, perfect skin. She was tiny- skinny, and 5'5 on her tiptoes. Even for a Faerie, who are unsurprisingly known for their beauty, she's considered unearthly. She lay stomach-first on a cloud, swinging her skinny legs, her shining wings perked up. They were a beautiful colour- gold and silver, but absolutely the lightest, dainties things you ever saw, with a purple edge that matched her eyes. '

"What?" She asked curiously, and I realised I was staring.

"Nothing. Just you," I smiled, and she dimpled. Suddenly there was a loud bang, and a round hole was punched out of the cloud adjacent to us, and then another, and another. We exchanged glares, and ducked down fifty feet. I scowled. I knew it, just knew it. The Hooks were practicing their cannonfire again.

"Oi!" I shouted, placing my hands on my hips, waving madly at the ship.

"Remember what your dad said," Darcey warned me, her voice musically calm, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever. Come on, let's go kick some pirate butt." She sighed, and it sounded like the wind whispering through the trees.

"Pirate is a-she started, and I laughed.

-"Politically incorrect term, yaddy yaddy ya." We flew over to the ship, and I'm pretty sure that they aimed a few cannons for us- Darcey's wings got singed, and I'd have their hide for that if it hurt her, which she assured me it did not. I couldn't blame them, though- we'd never exactly been on the best of terms, what with the whole ancestor thing. I spotted a couple people on board, and shot over to sit on the edge of the boat.

"Yo, fucktards," I drawled. "Think you can keep the cannons away from us?" Edward Hook turned around and flashed us the signature crooked smile.

"Sorry, Scout. You're hard to see, what with all the cloud."

"Lissa glows from a mile away," I snapped, crossing my arms and leaning against some ropes. He frowned.

"Could you please get off my rigging, Ally?" It annoys me.

"Yeah?" I grinned. "What does this do for ya?" I swung around on the rope, watching the old man's pained face as I spun. Saint-like I am not, I thought wryly.

""Ahhhrrg!" Shouted a young voice, and I went crashing to the ground. A small steel sword was smacked against my nose, hard, and I sat up amid Edward's hearty laughter. A little girl with long, violently curly black hair and steel eyes glared at me as she clambered off my abdomen.

"Ahoy! Stand and deliver," she ordered, pointing her-very real-sword at me. I rolled my eyes, kneeling to her level.

"Are you a highwayman or a pirate this time, Zina?" She grinned back at me, missing her front tooth.

"I'm a highway-pirate."

"I see," I smirked, to be smacked again with the flat of her sword. I swore like a-well, like a pirate.

"I'm gonna cut you up until you're tiny little itty-bitty pieces, Pan!" She shouted, and I rolled my eyes.

"You're teaching them young, huh," I said dryly, looking at her father, who held his hands up in innocence, smiling affectionately at his daughter. Then I smirked.

"Oh yeah, Hook? Well I'll just have to feed you to the crocodiles!" I roared playfully (kind of), grabbing her by the waits and hoisting her over the edge of the boat, letting her dangle by one foot as she shrieked in either terror or delight. I couldn't tell. Who cares?

"Alleeee! I'm not a real highway-pirate!" She screeched. "Put me down, Ally, please, I'll"-

"Okay, fine," I sighed, upon Darcey's disapproving glare. I set her down on the deck and she scuttled immediately to Darcey, and stuck her tongue out at me. I only just resisted the urge to do the same. Edward consulted his pocket-watch.

"It's seven, girls," he commented. "Much as your company is entertaining, shouldn't you be at school?"

"Oh, dang," I sighed. "I've gotta go home and change."

"I have one of your shirts at my place," Darcey chimed in, and turned gracefully on her toes, climbing the rigging. She shook out her wings again, and the slightest puff of gold dust landed on the deck, the breeze picked it up. Zina squealed in delight and ran off trying to catch it. Inadvertently, I caught myself wishing she ran clean overboard, and snickered. There was a solid thunk as James Hook jumped neatly down from the crow's nest, satchel slung over his shoulder, I stiffened but tried not to show it. Ah. Yes. So he'd been aiming the cannons, and having a good chuckle for the last ten minutes. His dark eyes met mine and we exchanged a single, abrupt nod. We had never been on good terms. When we played together as kids, we'd always ended up fighting. The last time we had played, it had ended with me smashing a mud pie in his face. Long story short, the mudpie had a rock in it, broke his face up a bit, and I got in massive trouble. We'd never exchanged more than snide, sarcastic or rude comments since. Then he smirked.

"If I'm there before you, Pan, you'll have detention," he taunted, a challenge curling around the edge of his mouth. Being two years older than me he was a senior, meaning, yep, I was dumb to piss him off, but I was feeling cocky this morning, and rolled my eyes.

"Do everyone a favour and go pillage something," I advised. He smirked, unaffected by my witty remark that I was actually really proud of.

"Vikings. I'm a pirate. There's a difference." I shrugged.

"I'm failing history. Adios, motherfuckas!" I crowed in parting, before I turned and bounced off the deck and back towards the shore, Darcey in tow. My morning was over, and now, it was time to face the day ahead.

**Please Review! Pretty please :)**


	4. Chapter 4: It started so well

**AN: Sorry this update wasn't as quick as the others. Just a quick but sincere THANKYOU! to the lovely people who are reading/following/have favorited this story, it means a lot! Also, apologies that in the last chapter, the name "Lisa" appeared once or twice. I changed Darcey's name from Lisa to Darcey, but I might not have caught all the errors. Just to clear that confusion up :) Apologies if this story seems to be going slowly but it will pick up in a chapter or two. I hope you guys like this chap, it took me a while to write and I'm still not 110% satisfied, but it'll do. Anyway, enjoy!**

My day always starts out so well, I thought ruefully to myself as I sat in the hard wooden chair outside the principal's office. It was a shame that it didn't last longer. Glumly I looked down at the seat of the chair, where more than three generations of my family had scratched their names over time. Not that any of them would ever admit it. Why, Ally? I sighed to myself. Why did you have to do that? It had seemed justified at the time...

I'd exited my English class a little late, and around the corner heard two familiar voices.

"Ian, don't," Darcey's soft voice said, and I could tell she was close to tears. I scowled and tried to hear over the din my classmates were making in the hallway.

"We can work this out, don't do this," she pleaded. Another voice laughed.

"Come on, Darce, it was never going to work. Even you must have been able to see that," said the voice of the number one douchebag in this school- Ian Rainer. "So anyways, see ya." Openmouthed I turned the corner and bumped into Darcey, tears streaming down her lovely face.

"Oh! Ally," she said, sobbing and giving me a tight hug.

Darce? I said worriedly. What happened?" I didn't really want to admit I'd been eavesdropping just yet.

"It's Ian," she sobbed. "I-I just saw him in math making out with Bella MacDonald. So I con-confronted him and he said that I was-was just a fuckytoy"-she flinched at the swearword-"and that he'd never really..."She trailed off, and the tears continued to stream down her face with no sign of stopping. My jaw tightened and anger coiled in my stomach. I hated it when people did this to her. She was so vulnerable, so trusting, and it killed me to watch them abuse that fact.

"Bastard," I said coldly. "C'mon, Darce. Don't cry. He's not worth it." She managed a watery smile. I groaned inwardly. Darcey had adored Rainer- and had been flattered when he, a senior, had seemingly returned those affections. I had warned her that he was a major asshole and the biggest player at the school, but would she listen? Nooooooo. And now, I was obligated to kick his ass. Which I could hardly complain about. Ever since I could remember, I'd been spoiling for a fight with him, and now I finally had a legitimate reason. We stopped only to drop our books off in the lockers en route towards the senior's area, with some of my other friends Eddie, Jen and Skylar in tow. In the back of my mind I could hear them making bets on the fight; my odds were two to one. I smirked, happy that they had so much faith in me.

"Ally, you don't have to"-Darcey implored, tugging at my hand, but I was already in _"break every bone in his body"_ mode. I was distantly aware of someone tall stepping in front of me, and I glanced up, irritated to have my mojo interrupted. It was none other than James Hook, standing there casually, hands shoved in his pockets and grinning like the ass he was.

"This area is out of limits, Pan," he said coldly. "Run along on back to the nursery." He smirked, but then seemed to take in my expression, one he probably knew very well from past altercations. He raised an eyebrow, but his smirk slipped. I guessed that was his version of "Oh, Holy Shit."

"What's-"

"Get out of my way or I'm gonna kill you, too," I growled, pushing past him. He sidestepped.

"Wait. Who've you got a hit out on?" He asked, and nearly laughed.

"What are you, some kind of moronic guard dog?" I spat, and then sighed when I realised he wasn't moving.

"Ian Rainer." I prayed they weren't friends. A slight smirk curled on his face.

"Well, you could've just _said_ so." Huh. Clearly not. He stepped out of my way, and I thought he followed us. We arrived at the senior area, and sure enough, Ian was in the thick of it, pausing from his conversations to suck Bella's face off now and then.

"Rainer," I said coldly. His eyes flicked to me, and his grin widened. Ian was the typical dickhead- with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes, an athletic build and a self-assured smile set in a face that knew it was hot.

"Ally Pan!" He drawled. "Sorry, honey, but I've already got a tenth-grade booty call." Darcey flinched. "Wanna be number two?" They all laughed, but then I stalked up to him, shoving Bella away, she called me some obscene name, but the rest of them were quiet. I grabbed his shirt.

"You are an insufferable prick who deserves a slow and painful death, and you will get it," I promised through gritted teeth. He looked a little nervous, and tried to cover it with a joke.

"Y'know, Pan, you'd look a lot better without that shirt on," he said, plucking my black-and white check shirt that I'd pushed up to the elbows.

"Yeah?" I snarled, my temper nearly boiling now. "Well, _you'd_ look a lot better without your dick attached, and Imma help you with that, _right now_!" I yelled, and then, wasting no time, tackled him to the ground. I'd love to say that it was a fair fight, good entertainment, but it wasn't. I beat him up well and truly. Methodically I broke his nose and elbow, gave him a black eye and a hefty kick to the balls, all while he cursed and called me foul names. It was wrong, but this was therapeutic-I only had to imagine Darcey's crying face to fuel my assault. Sure, he got in a few decent hits- hardly surprising since he was nearly a full foot taller than me- I had a black eye and a busted lip, but it was clear to all that Ian'd had his ass handed to him.

"Oi! Break it up! What's going on here!" Boomed a loud voice, one I knew very well. It was Mr Mason, our gym teacher, who also happened to be the vice-principal. Signature Pan luck, eh? I thought wryly. I delivered a final blow somewhere in the region of his kidneys, hoping he'd be peeing blood for at least a week, before I felt the burly teacher grab my arms and haul me off of Ian. He tossed me a few meters and I skidded over the gravel, making a complete mess of my elbows, palms and legs, too much adrenaline in my body to fly. Just on cue, the schoolbell rang and most of the crowd, still snickering, dispersed. Eddie mouthed a "you're so dead" to me as I picked myself up, I rolled my eyes in a silent "Thanks, Captain Obvious." My eyes fell on the one and only James Hook, who drew his finger over his throat, smiled wickedly at me, and was gone. A few of Ian's goons started helping him to the infirmary, and Mr. Mason put a hand on my shoulder, steering me towards the principal's office.

"But sir, it was-"I started to protest, but he silenced me, holding up a hand.

"I don't care, Scout," he growled, but then looked at me curiously. "Why did you do it?" He asked gruffly.

"He... hurt Darcey," I muttered. He gave me a firm look.

"Then that's Darcey's problem." I snorted.

"Right. She wasn't going to stand up to him." He rolled his eyes at me.

"You want your mom or your dad to pick you up?" I winced.

"I can walk home. Suspended, right?" He nodded.

"Definitely. You're talking about a week." My stomach lurched. I really had to get around to working on my self-control one of these days.

"He's going to execute me," I muttered, and Mason grinned.

"I'll call your dad in, then."

"Gah!" I sighed, sitting down in a chair outside the principal's office, which was where I was now, still nervously awaiting my father's arrival. My thoughts were interrupted when Zina Hook walked out of the office, led by the Principal and her older brother.

-"This time we won't, but don't do it again," Mr. Dashkov warned. She nodded complacently.

"Okay, Mister Dashkov," she trilled, not even listening to him. His eyes fell on me.

"Pan. Wait out here until your father arrives."

"Yes, sir I said," and it sounded slightly more bitchy than I had intended, but I could roll with it. How much worse could he kill me, anyway? He scowled at me.

"Lose that attitude, Pan," he warned.

"What attitude?" I asked whinily.

"That one," he said coldly, and turned back around, slamming the door. I grinned at Zina.

"What'd you do, rebel?" I asked. She grinned back.

"Kelly Longsley pushed me in the playground. He's gonna need a couple stitches." I held my hand out, she smacked me a high-five. Her eyes lit up. "Oh, and I called him a fucktard." I slumped in my chair.

"Oh, shit," I groaned. "Zi, did you tell him who taught you that?" She nodded.

"Sorry, Ally. Oh, and also, my teacher didn't seem to think 'Adios, motherfucka' was a very nice way of saying goodbye." She giggled. James snickered. I threw my hands in the air, exasperated.

"Shoot me now, why don't you?" He patted his pockets, then frowned.

"Sorry. My pistol's at home."

"Good thing I brought mine, then," said the voice of my father from behind me. My eyes widened. That was _fast._

"See you later, Pan," called James, and tugged on his sister's hand. I could see in his eyes something merciless, and knew that whatever he said next would truly make sure I was going to die.

"Let me know about that history tutoring!" He called, then smirked wickedly. "Can't have you failing, can we?" With that, he was gone. I exhaled, and turned to face my dad.

"Anything else I should know? You pregnant with someone's baby?" He asked calmly.

"Not that I know of," I muttered, trying unsuccessfully to crack a smile from him. He grabbed the door and held it open for me.

"In," he said, with an unreadable expression. To put it mildly, that was a very...unpleasant half-hour. It started with a lecture on self control and responsibility so dull I think even my father dozed off. Then Dashkov tried to play the guilt card on me by reminding me that Ian was injured and that I should be remorseful-that didn't work either because, remembering that vindictive pleasure I got from beating the crap out of his scumbag, cheating backside, and recalling how high pitched his screams had been, I sniggered. Thus my interview finished with my suspension from school for a week, Mr. Mason had been dead on. Mercifully, I didn't have to apologise to Rainer. I followed my father out, knowing that we were going to walk, not fly and that now came the real lecture. We walked in silence for a while taking the back route through the town, then the forest, but he broke it soon enough.

"I can't believe you did that, Ally," he said quietly, but when I looked up there was a ghost of a smile on his face. "Beat Rainer up. He's twice your size."

"I'm not proud of it," I muttered. Well. Not _that_ proud, I added in my head.

"Then why'd you do it?" He asked reasonably. I gritted my teeth.

"Because he hurt my best friend. You know how close we are. If she's hurting, I'm hurting too." Dad paused thoughtful.

"I didn't think of it that way," he mused. "But honestly, Scout, breaking his nose, fracturing his elbow...Was it really necessary?"

"Probably not," I admitted. "But-she was crying, I said, frustrated that I couldn't emphasise that enough. Can't you see-if you lost Quinn-my dad's best friend-if he was hurt, even slightly-how that would feel? How you would go to the end of the freaking earth to stop his pain?" He expression darkened.

"I have," he said gravely. "I have felt that. Which is why I'm, not laying into you about Rainer. As for the Zina Hook episode- he shrugged- put it into context, please."

"They fired cannons at us," I muttered. "What was I supposed to do, say "please stop aiming those deadly weapons at us?"He laughed.

"You truly are my daughter. But you didn't tell me you were failing history, Scout," he said, and sounded truly disappointed.

"I quite liked my nose the way it was," I said flatly. "I just can't see how it's important"-He glared at me.

"Your ancestors founded this island," he hissed. "We have been here since just about the start of time. Don't you think that's something to be proud about? To want to learn about? Come on, Ally." I bit my lip.

"When you say it that way-I sighed. Okay. Fine. I'll try harder." An evil smile crept onto his face.

"Not good enough. I'll arrange some tutoring for you."

"I don't need it!" I protested, slightly wounded. "I'll be fine, okay?" He arched an eyebrow, I snorted. "And seriously, who wants to teach history outside of school, Pops? Blerg." He smiled, not missing a beat.

"James Hook, apparently." My jaw dropped.

"Seriously?" I shrieked. "The fucktard"-oops, sorry, I apologised. "He wasn't serious, he was trying to get me into trouble!" I yelled. He smiled.

"Exactly. Fit punishment for you both." I groaned.

"I hate him. He hates me. You hate them," I pointed out. He disagreed.

"No, Ally. It's time to let go of that silly prejudice. I think you'd quite like him if you forgot his last name," my father remarked, humor biting at his tone. I snorted.

"Yeah, and if hell froze over," I retorted. He lowered his voice.

"Ally, we need an alliance with that family. We need every little bit of alliance we can get. Dark things are stirring." He met my eyes and suddenly this conversation didn't seem so light hearted.

"What d'you mean?" I asked, unable to keep the unease out of my voice. He pinched the bridge of his nose as if unsure whether to tell me this, and then continued.

"There's been rumours of bad things in our forests," he whispered. "Strange things the natives and the Faeries have seen, creatures prowling in the night. They aren't sure, nothing like them has ever been seen before-at least for a long time. The Natives have stories about them," he told me. "Night Creatures, Shadow Creatures, Darkeland Creatures, take your pick. They mean the same thing." Inherently, I shivered.

"Darkelande things? Here? In Neverland?" I tried to laugh, but it sounded weak even to my own ears. "You're out of your tree, old man." He fixed me with a serious gaze, I realised we had stopped walking. The sunlight was half on, half off his face, throwing shadows across the outlines of his features, and his hazel eyes spoke legions.

"Can't you feel it, Ally?" He asked quietly. "Your instincts. Can't you feel them shiver a little bit?" Suddenly, our forest, my safe haven, didn't seem so cheerful after all. I felt a cloud go over the sun, and dark shadows loomed, the tall trees seeming much closer than usual. Even on the warm day, the atmosphere all of a sudden became chilling. I'd always taken comfort in the fact that the forest seemed to have a mind of its own. But suddenly, it struck me that that mind could be less than innocent, that those leafy branches and winding paths could be home to treacherous, ominous things that we did not know about. I was never going to admit it, but those words had struck fear into my heart. And somehow, though we continued walking, emerging out of the forest, I realised that it was the quiet, nagging kind of fear, one I couldn't banish.

**Wow! That was a long chapter. I hope you guys liked it :)**

**There's a bit more drama planned in the next one, but it's quite an important chapter so it'll take some time to write...But you can help me go faster! REVIEW = Happy me = faster updates + better chapters! Yay!**

**Also I wanted to put it out there that after the next chapter, I might write something about that history tutoring...Poor Ally :) I wasn't originally going to, but I will if you guys want me to! There's only one way to let me know what you want, and I think you know how!**

**Em xx**


	5. AN: Continue or not?

**Hi Guys...Sorry if you thought this was another chapter, it's just an author's note.**

I've been really super busy lately with school and sports and work and everything, haven't had much time to write. So I need to know: does anyone

actually want me to continue with this story? The views have been OK but I don't have any reviews and am beginning to think it isn't really worth

continuing this story if nobody's keen for it. So I'm going to put it to you guys. Should I continue? Otherwise, this story will be deleted, or it may go

up for adoption if I find somebody else who wants it. It's a shame, because I am so enjoying writing it, I love the characters and the dynamic (next

chapter has already been written) but if nobody else is enjoying it, then I think I'm wasting my time. So if by any chance you do like this story and

want to see it continued, give me some feedback, here. Tell me what you like or don't, or how you want it to take shape. Is my writing style decent

or horrible, or is the whole idea just really crappy? Quite a lot of it is already written, but the ending hasn't been decided on yet, I'm just letting it

play out slowly, so there is a bit of wiggle room if you readers want to see specific things happen. Like the rest of you, I am super busy, but I'm

really prepared to make the time for the story if you guys think its worth continuing with.

**So, I'm afraid it is up to you guys to decide. Neverland's Pight, to be continued- or not? Have your say. **

**Em xx**


	6. Chapter 6: From Bad to Worse

**AN: I got a couple reviews asking me to continue...So I will! Not as many as I'd have liked, but I know it's so annoying when an author leaves you hanging... And also, quite a bit of this is already written, it's only a matter of editing and adding bits to make sense...Thus, chapter five! This is a looong one, hope you like it! Don't be afraid to give me a quick review :) they make me write faster, plus make me super happy.**

We arrived home, and I suddenly appreciated the term "face the music". My mom definitely wouldn't take my suspension as lightly as my dad had. Andre, my older brother, was the first person I saw, and let out a whoop that made him sound like even more of a douchebag than I'd thought possible. He had just turned twenty one, and was he ever taking advantage of that...I was actually surprised he was here, instead of fooling around at some bar downtown. He had inherited my mother and father's height, and was lanky, probably about 6'2 with a golden tan and dirty blonde hair to match bright green eyes. I could hardly count the times I had been told he was hot, or had girls half-beg me to set them up on dates with him, but my response was only ever one of disgust.

"Mom, she's home!" He yelled, and I glared at him. He grinned, got up, and clapped me on the back, then vigorously shook my hand.

"Rainer. I remember that little shit. Good one, Scout. He had it coming." My dad sighed, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

"Andre, we are trying to enforce upon this troubled young lady that physical violence does not solve all problems," he intoned in a serious voice. Andre sobered, taking on a solemn expression.

"Yes, sir. I agree completely." He held my father's gaze for about three, four seconds, and then they both fell over themselves sniggering.

"I fail to see what's so funny," said a curt voice from the hallway, and all three of us sobered up instantaneously. I squeezed my eyes shut, hearing her footsteps pad on the wood floor.

"Aliandra Pan," she sighed. "Turn around." Grimacing, I obeyed.

"Hi, mum," I tried. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

"Abe, you fool! Have you seen your daughter's face?"

"Yeah, it's pretty ugly," Andre interjected, and I made a one-fingered gesture at him. Mom tut-tutted.

"Her hands and elbows and knees"-she sighed exasperatedly. "Ally, battle scars are not the most attractive thing in the world." I rolled my eyes.

"And here I was, brought up my entire life thinking violence was the answer," I drawled, faking amazement. Muttering to herself, she went to our rather substantial medicine cabinet, took out something, and began cleaning me up.

"Just so you know, mom, if you think Ally's in the wars, the guy she beat up is currently having his major body parts stitched back together," Andre called. My dad chuckled.

"And he'll never be able to reproduce, either," he commented.

"Service to the world," I muttered. Andre saluted me. My mother smiled-whoa, this was weird. Usually, beating the crap out of somebody would have earned me a huge lecture and a solid grounding by now.

"Darcey's been round here, hasn't she," I sighed, she nodded.

"Yes, she has. She's a persuasive young lady." My mother filled a cotton bud with antiseptic, and I swallowed nervously. I absolutely hated antiseptic, though judging from the number of times I fell over, you'd think we'd be best buddies.

"Mom, it's fine, I'll just wash it with water. Or, um, get Darcey to heal it."

"Ally," she said in that sweet but entirely no-nonsense tone. "Because you're getting off with this fairly lightly, you'd better just sit there while I clean you up." She plonked the bottle down next to me.

"Full strength alcohol?" I screeched, my stomach dropping. "No way, Mom."

"So dies the badass Scout," Andre gravely intoned, grinning like a Cheshire cat. "Jesse Rainer, 6'5 rugby player? No bigs. Taken down by a half-pint bottle of antiseptic." I scowled at him. She never, ever used alcohol on us for cuts and grazes, number one because it stung like an absolute bitch. My mother smiled dangerously.

"Never know what you can pick up in a schoolyard. Stay still, Aliandra."

"Yeah, right," I snorted, making a dash for the door. "Adios, motherf"-I swallowed- "um, _amigos"_. Laughing, Andre caught me, pinning my arms behind me and half-dragging, half carrying me back over to my mother. I stomped on his toe, hard, but gritted my teeth when he simply held me tighter.

"Dad!" I yelled, and he looked up irritatedly from his book, took in the scene, grinned, and turned the page. Well. Clearly he was going to be of little help. Luckily I had a plan B.

"Oliver, bite Andre!" I screeched, and my two year old brother looked around curiously, brown eyes only just visible under a mop of curly golden hair my mother couldn't bear to cut. Ollie grinned, revealing all of his teeth, white and sharp, stained with something brown that I didn't want to think about, and crawled towards Andre.

"Do it, and I'll use you as a football, like last time", Andre threatened. That was a funny story, actually. But Ollie's face fell, and he decided to grab the nearest object- a handful of crayons-and bite the tips off of them, instead of gnawing on Andre's shin.

"Mom, Ollie's eating the hamster again!" I tried. (Yep. My brother has tried to eat our hamster more times than I care to remember. I have a dysfunctional family.) She rolled her eyes.

"Good protein. And it's old anyway," she said dryly. (Dysfunctional. Like I said.) Then she swooped onto me with her cottonbud-of-death, swiftly dousing all of my cuts in antiseptic. I stood glumly, deciding not to give Andre the satisfaction of having me scream and flail around. I wouldn't live it down for a fortnight.

"Hey, that's not so bad," I remarked. "Kind of...numb." My mother smiled.

"It'll last about another twenty seconds, so enjoy it," she said, bustling around putting things away.

"Boy, this is going to be good," Andre chuckled.

"Andre, it isn't nice to make fun of people in agony," she said, but was fighting a smile. I rolled my eyes.

"I honestly can't see why you're fussing about the"-I sucked in a breath. And then another once. And another once. I gritted my teeth.

"I spoke too soon. Ow. Jesus motherfucker, this _hurts_." I charged to the sink to try and wipe what felt like molten lava mixed with hot sauce out of the very raw assortment of cuts on my arms, legs and face, but nothing worked. Apparently, it had already soaked in, and was now ravaging my body from the inside out.

"Mo-o-om!" I groaned. She smiled sympathetically.

"Look at it this way", she suggested. "You won't get any scars from the cuts."

"Gah!" I managed, flopping onto the couch. "Ga-a-ah!"

"Scout, if you're going to die loudly and painfully, can you please go and do it in your room, so we don't all have to listen to it?" My father asked mildly, not looking up from his book.

"I hope you need alcoholic antiseptic someday," I glowered. Just then, Kane and Carlie arrived home.

"Mom! I got an A for that report on the Wildwood!" Carlie yelled excitedly. Then she frowned. "Why is Ally rolling around on the couch like that?"

"Because she got kicked out of school for opening a can of whoop-ass on Darcey's ex-boyfriend, and Mom went all antiseptic on her," Kane informed her. How he already knew that escaped me.

"It wasn't a can, it was more like a fire hydrant," Andre called, grinning. "That's you, Ally-Bear. A five-foot six fire hydrant." Carlie winced.

"Sucks to be him. You got off easy, Al."

"Swap with me then," I snapped, and she grinned.

"Tempting, but no. Hey Mom, who're we having over tonight? There's a note stuck to the pantry." Mom smiled.

"Edward and Diana, hon." I glanced up.

"The Hooks?" I yelled furiously, and Kane echoed me. "Can this day get any worse?"

"We're having meatloaf!" Carlie said excitedly. My face dropped.

"Oh my god. It just did."

"Hook!" Ollie cried, pointing a decapitated green crayon at the general audience.

"You have got to be kidding, right?" I asked, but I wasn't hopeful.

"Remember our conversation, Ally," my father said calmly. I groaned.

"I'm going 'round to Darcey's."

"You will not," my dad said sharply. "You are staying here, and what's more, you're being civil."

"Civil?" I yelled. He frowned.

"Don't shout, Ally." Andre sighed.

"I gotta go. I'll be back in the morning." My father nodded, my mother smiled.

"Wait. Where's he going?" He smirked.

"To tutor."

"It's going to take all night?" I demanded. He hesitated, giving me a thanks-asshole glare, I reciprocated by batting my eyelashes.

"Slow learner," he explained.

"Liar. He's sneaking out to suck his girlfriend's face off," I accused.

"That's not all that he'll be sucking," Kane deadpanned, and my mother shot him a filthy glare while Dad and I fell over ourselves doubled up in laughter. Carlie frowned.

"I don't get it," she said unhappily.

"Wait three years, Carlie. Jesus, that was a good one, kid," I giggled, and smacked him a high five. He shrugged.

"I learned from the best," he said grandly, and saluted me. I bowed in return.

"But seriously," I continued. "You really think having that family over is a good idea?" I asked, well aware my voice sounded whiny. My mother gave me a steady, meaningful glare. The silence was broken by Ollie giggling, and Mom's expression dropped.

"Oliver Pan!" She bellowed, and tackled him. Our hamster, Flinny, went flying, and Carlie quickly caught him, cooing, and wiped the slobber of of his face with her school skirt. I took this as an opportunity to drive home my point.

"See what I mean?" I sighed. "Oliver is still trying to eat household pets, and you think we should have dinner guests over? It's not _"just a phase" _anymore, Mom." This drew amusement from my mother, but she had her face set in that "I'm not budging" expression we all knew so well. Arguing with my mother was like arguing with...well, gravity. Which was kind of funny because we could all fly...but still. So there was no getting out of it now.

"Kane, come help me make the meatloaf," my mom ordered. The rest of you, get out. You're doing my head in. Kane was the only one who could realy cook well in this place. The last time I had tried, that evening had finished with eight members of the fire brigade in our kitchen. I rolled my eyes and picked Ollie up.

"Come on, buddy," I sighed. "Let's see if we can draw with the crayons, not eat them, for once." I took him up to our upstairs guest bedroom that doubled as a playroom, setting him down next to an easel and putting a red crayon in his hand, showing him how to draw. He giggled, and went to work. I smiled, coming into the hallway to bump into Carlie. She was eleven, and looked like-poor kid- a younger copy of me, except her hair was lighter and her eyes were brown, instead of hazel. We could hardly be more different, though. Carlie was a complete perfectionist, cared about everyone's feelings and hated to hurt anyone. Her face brightened when she saw me.

"Hey, Ally. You know Zina Hook?"

"I sure do," I replied, smiling, but Carlie looked troubled.

"I don't think she likes me." I rolled my eyes.

"Carlie, everyone likes you. Why wouldn't she?"

"She's...really cold sometimes," Carlie said quietly. "I mean, I tried to talk to her the other day and she just looked at me and walked off."

"She can be pretty shy, Carls," I told her gently. "I'm sure if you try harder with her you guys will be great friends." Carlie's face brightened.

"Yeah, I hope so. She seems so nice." Suddenly, she frowned. "Lee-Lee, is Ollie supposed to be drawing on the walls?" I groaned.

"Jesus, I leave him alone for one minute," I muttered, and she skipped off laughing something along the lines of "sucked in."

"Ollie," I said sternly. "That's very bad, Ollie. You mustn't draw on the walls. Mommy will be very mad. Understand?" He giggled, hiding his face, I rolled my eyes.

"No, I don't want to play hide and seek," I groaned. "I'm trying to be mad at you, don't you go all cutesy on me." He stuck his tongue out at me, I stuck mine out back. Suddenly, he grinned.

"Fuck," he said quite clearly, and my jaw dropped.

"Oh my god, Ollie...Let's not tell Mom that, huh?" I muttered, and began to clean off the walls. By the time I had that done (it didn't take long, Mom had long since learned to buy the easy-wipe crayons, she'd had four other kids) and bathed him, it was about five-thirty. We came back downstairs and I put him in front of the fire, with one of our dogs, Watson, who immedeately proceeded to try and hump Ollie.

"No wonder that kid is scarred," I muttered. Dad paused in the hallway, clearly doing a double-take, took off his glasses, put them back on, and shook his head ruefully at me. I was just about to reach over the counter and steal a slice of bread when there were footsteps on the porch, loud, fast ones, and the door was flung open.

"Andre?" My mother asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Forget your rubber?" I asked snidely, and my mother shot me a disgusted glare. I rolled my eyes.

"I meant eraser, duh," I said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. His usually-playful face was deadly serious, and-wait-was that.._blood_ on his hands? It couldn't be. He was panting hard, like he'd just run a marathon. My father had reappeared, coming up behind me with a more than quizzical expression. I'm missing something here, I thought, as my brother and father shared a look I didn't understand. Andre nodded as if confirming something my Dad had asked.

"Abe. Ally. Mum." Come quickly. We followed him outside.

"What?" My father growled tersely, looking like he already knew the answer, and somehow, I knew that this was bad, a cold feeling washed over me and settled. Andre drew a deep breath, as if steeling himself.

"There's been an attack."

**Ooh, cliffy! The story is starting to pick up little now, so tell me what you think? Too quick? Not quick enough? A review or two for this chap would make me super happy :) **

**Em xx**


	7. Chapter 7: Neverland's Plight

**Firstly: A HUGE thankyou to the awesome people who are following/reviewing this story. I wasn't going to post this until Sunday but the lovely reviews I got were such a super incentive for me to get it finished! So enjoy!**

_Previously: _

_Mum. Ally. Mum. Come quickly. We followed him outside._

_"What?" My father growled tersely, looking like he already knew the answer, and somehow, I knew that this was bad, a cold feeling washed over me and settled._

_"There's been an attack."_

My stomach dropped.

"Who? What? Where? Why?" My father and I said in a jumble.

"You need to come quickly." He hesitated, looking from mum to me to dad.

"I'll stay here," my mother said calmly. "The kids must remain calm." She glanced at Andre. "Are the other guardians already there?"

"Probably by now. I ran to tell them." Mom nodded, snapping into full emercency mode.

"Andre, drop by Edward and Diana's and tell them to send their children over here. Fly, don't walk. I'll call in some backup and we'll keep safe here." With that, she turned around to go back inside, and my father took off, jumping off the hill. I struggled to keep up- all old man jokes aside, he could move damn fast.

"This is more serious than I think, isn't it?" I asked him once we were in the air.

"Yes," he said gravely. "Your mother and I have feared this would be coming for a long time," he said rather cryptically, and though I raised an eyebrow pressing for further information, he refused to elaborate. We landed in the town square, where an anxious crowd steering us towards the scene. My heart sank when I saw which house it was; the D'Laqua's. They ran the mill and had a townhouse here in Darbyshire. I heard a woman sobbing upstairs, and taking the stairs two at a time, sprinted up.

"Stay put for now," my father told me gravely. I nodded, for once not questioning him. An older man slightly taller than me with eyes and a hunched back that screamed "grief" regarded me without comment, and shuffled into the room. I had only seem Mr. D'Laqua once or twice, and suddenly realised what this meant. Oh no. If they were both all right, that meant that...Forgetting my father's instructions I pushed the door open, and my eyes immediately were drawn to the bloodstained white sheets that were tangled around a bloodless corpse. Macey D'Laqua, the 25 year old aspiring-schoolteacher was lying dead in her bed. Her throat had been slit, she was naked except for a blood-drenched towel that showed she had also been stabbed in the stomach. Upon closer investigation, I realised that the skin on her face had been peeled back, her terrified eyeballs popping out of her skull, her mouth open wide in an eternal scream of pain. In the back of my mind I heard a strangled, muffled gasp, and realised vaguely that it was mine. As the stench of blood and death hit me I stumbled backwards, colliding with a tall figure on my way to the floor. My father's arms caught me to hold me steadily, righting me and then gently letting go. The arms, though, I realised, weren't my fathers- they were wearing along-sleeved black blazer, and I glanced up, to feel my cheeks heat. Of course. I should have realised that Edward Hook would bring his heir along.

"Sorry," I muttered. A pair of piercing dark blue eyes regarded me calmly.

"It's fine," he murmured, and I stepped away from him. Whatever animosities we had between us seemed irrelevant now in the face of such a horrible, senseless tragedy. A cold shudder ran down my back. Who on earth would have the capacity to do such a thing? The logical afterthought hit me even harder. _And why?_

"Abe," Edward called, breaking the silence that seemed to engulf and weigh down the small room. "Come here." My father moved with surreal grace closer towards the body, his expression completely blank. Instinctively, both James and I moved to follow our fathers. I swallowed determinedly as the smell hit me once again, but then I noticed something. Etched on the dead girl's neck, well, chest, anyway, was a message, carved intricately into the bloodless flesh.

_Thus begins Neverland's Plight. _

* * *

_"Neverland's Plight." What the fuck did that mean?_

My father immediately began a heated conversation with Edward Hook, who guardedly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Abriham," Edward said lowly. "This is not the place for this discussion. We must let these people grieve." With a few words of assurance and sympathy to the D'Laquas, both men left the building quickly, and we scrambled to keep up with them, catching snippets of their conversation as they progressed down the narrow, poorly lit staircase and out onto the cobblestoned street below where the shadows of other houses seemed menacing and huge.

"-Worse than we-"

-"Threatening more attacks," Edward said, sounding concerned.

"We must get back to Jane," my dad said quietly. "They will be worrying. We can speak further there. But first"-they exchanged glances.

"James", Edward said, sounding weary. "Won't you and Ally fly back to the Pan's?" I felt him nod.

"Dad-"I protested, and he gave me what I liked to call "The Look"

"We'll be along soon," he told me. "We just have to make a quick stop." I opened my mouth make some retort, but felt James grab my wrist and steer me towards the forest.

"Come on, Ally, he said lowly." It was the first time he'd called me something other than "Pan". He walked fast, I had trouble keeping up and wrenched my wrist out of his grip to block his path.

"What's going on?" I demanded. "You know something." He sidestepped.

"I don't know anything you don't," he said curtly. I sighed, exasperated and stalked ahead, jumping into the air, my mind still whirling with questions that, as of yet, had no answers. Even now, the comfort I found at being in the sky was fleeting. It seemed too vast tonight. For the first time, the boundless scope of the sky really hit me. Up here, against the indigo sky, we were nothing but fireflies...I was struck with the sense that there was a force far greater than I could have ever imagined at work here, and if I was to be brutally honest, it scared me.

**This chap is a little bit short, but hope you liked it! REVIEW! **

**Em xx**


	8. Chapter 8: I don't blush

**ATTENTION! A huge thank you to all my readers/reviewers.**

**Terra Nova, Daughter-of-Vulcan & Valkyrie Shadow (sweet names btw) : Thanks for your support!**

**Lilly: When I got your review I sat at my desk with a huge goofy grin for about five minutes. You have no idea how much that meant to me!**

**MEOW3: Haha you're totally right, I've always disliked Wendy (or the Wendy-character if you know what I mean.) It takes a skilled writer to make her interesting and even then she's nowhere near as substantial as Peter Pan. That's why Ally's so fun to write: she kicks butt and takes care of herself. I love you too!**

**PatPatterson: Yes, I know that ch 7 was a little on the gory side, sorry. :( But I needed to get across the absolute shock Ally was feeling, to have her peaceful little world shattered. There may have to be a little more in a few chapters! But thanks for your review.**

** To all of the above & anyone else reading Neverland's Plight: THANK YOU! I am so glad other people are enjoying this story as much as I am. Anyhoo, I shall shut up and get on with chapter eight!**

_Previously:_

_For the first time, the boundless scope of the sky really hit me. Up here, against the indigo sky, we were nothing but fireflies...I was struck with the sense that there was a force far greater than I could have ever imagined at work here, and if I was to be brutally honest, it scared me._

There was only one part of flying that I hated: coming back down. Sure, it was the biggest high in the world, but eventually, you always have to come back down and face reality-in my case, a reality that was quickly turning everything I thought I knew on its head.

When I entered my home with the brooding Hook in tow, I was surprised to find my Dad was already back with Edward. I cast a look around my living room. The whole three families were assembled. Mia and John Darling, Edward and Diana Hook. The Darlings lived in the centre of the town, and there were, from memory, about four kids. I had met Mia and John a few times, and we were usually on better terms with them than we were with the Hooks. Both were golden haired, Mia Darling had jade green eyes whilst her husband's were a grey colour. Mike, one of the boys, was sitting next to his beautiful blonde-haired sister, Mirella, whom Andre was busy giving not-so subtle glances (she was returning them too, _yuck_)

Mom and Dad sat next to the Darlings. My mother looked older somehow, and tired. Her normally-perfect auburn hair was up in a brutal ponytail, she seemed pale, the lines on her face more pronounced. She gave me a weary smile, and nodded. She knew I was feeling uncomfortable-should be here? I wasn't the oldest child, but I was too young to be ignorant, particularly in the face of what I had just seen... I could hear kids screaming upstairs, and figured they were working out their own issues.

The toilet flushed, and a tall person stepped out of the bathroom. He had short sandy blonde hair that was slightly curly, and like James Hook and my playboy brother, probably brushed about 6'1. I'm not sure why, but immediately, our gazes connected. My stomach did a perfect somersault. Or three. He was absolutely..well..gorgeous, and I felt my cheeks burn. He was the kind of good looking that made you stop dead in the street and gape. Maybe even get collected by a cart or something. I suddenly became very aware of what I was wearing- denim shorts, a loose, grey cotton singlet and scuffed leather boots: so not the first impression I would have liked to make, but there wasn't much I could do about it now. A funny part of my brain wondered why I cared, I chose to ignore it. He smiled a kind, easy smile, his chocolate brown eyes lighting up. He walked towards me, stopping a little too close, which I realised I didn't mind. Usually, when strangers invaded my space, things got very nasty rather quickly. He cleared his throat.

"William Darling. Will. I don't believe we've met," he said, his voice light yet appealing in a teasing, generous way. His hands were shoved into his pockets, his expression slightly abashed. Holy shit...Was I...blushing? No. Not possible. I did not blush.

"Aliandra Pan. Ally. Nice to meet you," I replied, and we shook hands. And then I felt it. A little spark of electricity, so sharp I wondered if he felt it, too. Grimacing inwardly, I took the only available seat- smack bang in the middle of Hottie Darling and sulky Hook. My father smiled at me. Maybe he was under the impression that I was trying to be civil. _Ha_. The meeting must have gone on for a good three hours, with all three families contributing equally. It was intensely frustrating because no conclusion could be reached until the report came back from the coroners. Mostly, they talked about security of the town, doing street watches, and the safety of us three families.

James, Will and I were mostly treated as observers. I was vaguely aware of dozing off in the midst of a buzz of conversation about the message on her chest. I pushed it to the back of my mind and let myself relax. When I started to wake up again, what felt like only seconds later, I was aware that most of everyone was...gone? Andre and Mirella were still talking eagerly, the Hooks had disappeared. Empty coffee cups littered the table. I was still on the couch, my head resting on-

Oh God.

I did so not just do that.

_Fuck._

I did so just do that. I realised I was curled up, my feet tucked into me, my head resting on a very comfortable, very warm shoulder. Summoning myself from unconsciousness, I looked into a pair of laughing brown eyes, and felt my cheeks heat. _Wow. Good one, Ally._

"I'm so sorry!" I gasped, completely embarrassed and almost at a loss for words. "I really am. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's fine, Ally," he said, chuckling. He shrugged. "Admittedly, I didn't put you as the type of girl who'd make a move so soon, but-"I shoved him playfully.

"Hey, shut up." I scooted away, and suddenly found the carpet quite fascinating. A minute later, he put a hand on my shoulder. That snap of electricity again made my backbone tingle.

"I honestly didn't mind." In his eyes there was a warm look, liquid chocolate, and I liked it. I mean a _lot. _

"Well," I drawled, "in that case"-I scooted up next to him again and leant against him.

"Hey, this is a two-way street, here," he teased, and I snorted.

"No way are you sleeping on me." I threw him a cushion and whacked him in the face with it. He shrugged, unashamed.

"I'll take what I can get." I couldn't help but smile as I leaned up against him again. I found it easy to be with him, he was so likeable and friendly and-Whoa, I told myself. Don't get ahead of yourself, I thought. We had all been through a lot today, the shock of what had happened was probably making me behave in a different way. This would all change one I got some sleep, I rationalized, but a little voice inside my head snorted in a way that said_ "we'll see about that."_ Once again I ignored it, and let my inhibitions go, let myself relax a little bit more.

"And for the record," I said through a yawn, "I'm not making a move." I felt his shoulders move, he must have laughed. As my eyelids shut once again, I heard him mutter something that sounded like "sure."

**Sorry if this was a bit of a boring chapter, but I needed to introduce Will in some way, and I thought that this was cute. Let me know what you thought! **

**Em xx**


	9. Chapter 9

**Well, hi!**

I can't believe it's taken me this long to get to this stage of the story...It's only just the tip of the iceberg! Now that all the main characters

are established pretty well, I need some help. I've got a gap of about four/five chapters worth of time to fill before I get to the next big main event.

So I need to know what you want to see! I'm definitely looking at some Ally/Will stuff, ch. 8 was really just their intro and the relationship needs to

be developed much more. I put the question to you before: which characters do you want to see more of? Any scenarios/ideas you'd like to see me

write? I'm warming to the idea of the history tutoring to set up a minor but quite important event, what do y'all think? I'm super committed to

making this story as good as it can be and don't want it to end too soon. I think one of the cool things about this story is that it's written in parts,

but other parts still need to be filled in (the ending's completely up in the air still) so there's room to move and it can really be a story where readers

have a bit of input. I have a killer week, so there won't be many updates probably until the weekend, so lots of time for you to have your say. If not,

that's cool too, I've got ideas of my own and the story is rattling along quite nicely, but I'd absolutely love to know what you people want to see! At

this stage, nearly anything's possible, so try me!

**Em xx**


	10. 10: Ballet and other horror stories

** Hi! Big chapter, haven't updated in a while so this will hopefully make up for it. Thank you times a hundred to the awesome people **

**who've viewed/reviewed this story, I'm nearly at 500 views, which is HUGE for me. Hope you enjoy this chapter, it was fun to write **

**although it took forever because I didn't want to stop! REVIEW!**

I was sitting in the back of my English classroom, leaning back on my chair at an angle that would likely see me on my ass before the bell went. Bouncing in and out of the conversation, I gathered we were having some class discussion on a book we were supposed to have read. Adrian, the pompous git that sat in front of me, was halfway through a spiel that was, as always, littered with gesticulations that made my dirty mind snigger and ten-syllable words that made even our teacher's eyebrows knit together. So _not_ what I needed today.

As people who hadn't read the book began hastily agreeing with him, he sat back in his chair with smugness-_was that even a word?_-oozing from literally every orifice, but I was among the few unimpressed. Although by simply opening his mouth he was rattling my infamously short chain, my pissed mood was not to do with Adrian; in fact, far from it. It had been four days since the attack and I'd been sent to school for all of them whilst my father and brother flew around Neverland speaking to the Faeries, the Wanderers, visiting the Indians and the Mermaids. And me? I was stuck in a stupid, pointless class with people that I was sure were going to drive me beyond insanity. I did not suit sitting still and letting other people take over the action, and I couldn't stand not knowing something. As I was running through possible illnesses I could mysteriously come down with that would a) convince my mother to let me stay home, and b) be not serious enough to make me stay in bed, Mirella Darling cleared her throat. Although a year and a half older, our English classes were joined to save space whilst the school underwent renovations. I watched as she tucked a tumble of golden blonde curls behind a baby-blue satin headband that perfectly matched her large, doe-like eyes.

"Excuse me, Adrian," she said, smiling prettily. "I think you've overemphasised the importance of juxtaposition in the third chapter, which undermines the pathetic fallacy used in the latter chapters and thus is detrimental to the foreshadowing the author employs so vividly." Adrian rapidly blinked a few times, and as he opened his mouth to retort, the teacher changed the subject-_thanks be to god_, and I watched her pop a few headache pills once she set us a task. Mirella, to her credit, was right, but unlike anyone else who'd ever managed to outwit Adrian, had a perfectly balanced, sweet countenance. If it had been me, my reaction would have probably constituted licking my finger and holding it up whilst making a hissing noise.

Whatever. Call me immature.

But she wasn't-she was already gracefully bent over her newest task, writing earnestly, her slender, pale limbs artfully arranged in the small chair in a way that made the rest of us look like cavemen. Her perfectly pressed and crisp white dress made her look like an angel. I never knew how to feel about her. Mostly it was a combination of amazement that one person could actually be so prissy and disgusted amusement as I wondered if she'd ever had a day of fun in her whole life. But I couldn't fully scorn her-she was just too _good_.

The girl simply didn't seem to have any faults. Sometimes she reminded me of Darcey, but although Darcey was the good one in our friendship, she didn't have a stick up her ass like Miss Darling seemed to and was always up for a bit of mischief though she might protest to begin with. I had been friends with Mirella back when we were younger; we used to take dance classes together and our moms were good friends. Our friendship ended rather abruptly when we were nine or ten and I got kicked out of ballet class (yep, kicked out) when I told the teacher rather rudely that I didn't see the point in prancing about like sanctimonious little bitches. I hadn't known what the words meant, but I had adored the reaction that started with the teacher going an interesting shade of purple, and ended with her marching me by the ear from the studio and telling my mother something to the meaning of _"don't ever bring that little vermin back." _

Personally I had thought it was hilarious, my mother was unimpressed, and Mirella even more so. I think I'd stung her a little by insinuating that she was a sanctimonious bitch, but after that, I didn't care. I met Darcey a few months later and we'd been best friends ever since.

But I digress.

I didn't know much about her life now other than the fact that she was still dancing at the same studio and wanted to be an actress or a singer. She was the perfect model daughter; patient and sweet and caring, she helped her mom around the house and took good care of her younger brother, Frankie, who was about eight or nine, and was apparently renowned as a storyteller. It just didn't seem possible for one person to have so much goodness, and as a result she was constantly getting under my skin.

The bell rang suddenly, jerking me out of my reverie and the two front chair legs came back down to ground level, clearly living to see another day. As people scrambled to get the heck out (it was last class) I dragged my feet, still unable to comprehend exactly what my father was making me do this afternoon. I knew he was not a person to make empty promises, or threats, but I'd still choked on my breakfast when he'd informed me I was to go to the Hook's after school for history tutoring. Needless to say a huge fight had ensued and nearly escalated to a food fight if it had not been for my mother's diplomacy. Thus I had lost the battle, and probably the war as well, I thought as I grumpily made my way towards my locker.

"Oh, Ally," Darcey's voice chimed in, reading my expression. "It won't be as bad as you think."

"Really?" I said, trying not to take my mood out on her, but my tone was still irritable. She laughed.

"Really. You need to pass this class, and besides"-she snuck a furtive glance around the clamouring room-"and besides, he's really cute." I arched a disbelieving eyebrow at her over a huge pile of books, and she blushed.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm just saying. Besides, I know you think he's hot, too," she said defensively. I rolled my eyes, searching for a rebuttal.

"Darce, Rainer was easy, but I think Hook'll be a little more of a worthy opponent if I have to take him on in a month's time," I grinned, and she scowled at me.

"You can say what you want, but I know you think the sa-ame," she sang.

"Ahh," I groaned, banging my head on the locker, and it made a satisfying clanging noise. "Ahh, ahh, ahh!" I complained. I looked around to see James Hook besides my locker. _Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear_, I thought dazedly as he grinned wickedly at me, an action that served only to exemplify Darcey's point.

"Don't do that too much, Pan," he told me, a half-smile playing at his lips. "You're going to be needing every last brain cell you can find," he drawled, then sauntered off with that irritating walk, just casual enough not to be called a swagger. Darcey giggled again as her eyes lit up.

"See! He's. So. Cute!" She squealed, poking me in the ribs for extra emphasis. "Heck, who cares if he's a dick, with that face, he could tutor me any day," she said thoughtfully. I smiled grimly at her as I shut and locked my locker, shouldering my book bag.

"That is exactly the kind of talk that gets your heart broken and my ass suspended," I told her, but couldn't resist a smile. She rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. Have fun, Ally!" She sang, and danced off.

* * *

Half an hour later, her words echoed in my mind. _Have fun, she said,_ my dazed mind repeated. _It won't be as bad as you think_, she said. No, she was right. It had been worse. Aside from the fact that this unit of study was possibly enough to reduce grown men to tears of boredom, my teacher was a complete and utter asshole. I mean, I'd always known that, but spending more than ten seconds of one-on-one time with him only made my judgement seem all the clearer. He was studying the assignment we'd been given, and finally nodded, forcing me to come back from a pleasant fantasy of breaking out of the window declaring to him, my father and the history textbook that they would never take me alive. A pair of dark eyes considered me over the top of the paper.

"You seriously can't understand this?" He asked.

"I wouldn't be here if I could," I said, rolling my eyes. He ignored me.

"Don't lean back in that chair," he told me absent-mindedly as he looked back over the sheet. I snorted and tilted it a little further back, and suddenly a gentle wave rocked the boat, sending the chair to that dreaded angle where it became certain I was going to die. I shrieked as the chair toppled and crashed to the ground, cracking my head on the hard dark timber floor.

"You could have told me the chair was broken," I said, glaring at him. He was only just barely smothering a grin, but managed to shrug casually.

"It wasn't until you sat in it." I glared again, righting the chair and cautiously sitting on the edge.

"Are you suggesting I have a fat ass?" I bit out, satisfied when his eyebrows shot up, before he regained control.

"I said nothing of the sort," he replied in that maddeningly calm tone. He handed me back the sheet.

"All you've got to do is pick a constitutional law and write an essay on why and how it was passed, and the trial it took precedence at." I frowned.

"It's that simple?" I studied the sheet, and found that in fact it was. I looked up, and he was smirking.

"If you'd wanted to talk to me, you could have just asked," he drawled, and I spluttered.

"Yeah right, buddy. You flatter yourself." He shrugged, brushing it off.

"Maybe." I glanced at the clock, if was four-thirty. I stood.

"I'm gonna go," I said a little awkwardly. "Thanks." He shook his head, now leaning back in his chair. _Freaking hypocrite_.

"I have orders to keep you here until five," he informed me, and I rolled my eyes.

"Whatcha gonna do, Hook, lock me in the brig?" I taunted, and watched his eyebrows knit together.

"Don't tempt me," he muttered. I took a step towards the door.

"My class, my call," I told him, he grinned.

"My house, my rules. Sit down." Stung, but knowing I was beat, I sat.

"It's not even a house, it's a boat," I muttered sullenly. "Who the hell lives on a boat?"

"It's a pretty big boat," he told me amusedly, I had to agree. It _was_ a pretty damn big boat, at least three levels high, and a proper pirate ship. If I was honest, although I'd die before telling him this, I thought it was pretty awesome. Because if was super old, practically a family heirloom in itself, the old captain's quarters, or which there were many had been converted into bedrooms. We were in the kitchen right now- a grand, surprisingly high-ceilinged room with elaborate wooden carvings and paintings on the walls. Although it was technically below deck, it felt like a room in a mansion. There were more levels below, I'd never been down there, and hoped I never would. I really, really hoped he'd been joking about having a brig, although if family history was any indication, I shouldn't put it past him.

"So," I said, breaking the silence. "How do I start?"

"Pick a law," he advised me, and groaning, I ran my finger randomly down the page and picked.

"Sir Patrick Walter's law states that no one person shall attack with the intent to maim, injure or kill another," I read quietly as a tense silence settled between us. I found that I had to break it, and attempted a chuckle.

"Wow. Good one, Walter," I drawled.

"This is the first time it's been needed," his voice said quietly, and I looked up.

"What?" I asked, frowning.

"Nothing like this has ever happened before," he said darkly. "Neverland has never needed this law, up until four days ago," he finished. I blinked.

"I don't understand," I sighed. "How could somebody-

"They don't think it was somebody from here," he said, cutting of my question. "They believe it was a ShadowCreature." I shifted in my chair, remembering my father's words. But he continued.

"The level of violence needed...plus the...the, ah, marks," he said, looking uncomfortable.

"Marks?" I repeated, feeling clueless and hating it. He swore.

"They didn't tell you. Shit. Your father'll have my head." I smiled pleasantly at him.

"As much as I'd enjoy watching that, if you'd rather not have to have this textbook removed from your colon in the near future, I suggest you tell me, now," I said sweetly. He grimaced.

"On the back of her neck...There were bite marks," he said grimly. The room temperature seemed to drop about ten degrees.

"Something drank her blood?" I whispered, feeling sick.

"Not enough to drain her. Just to weaken her," he said coldly, but was unable to maintain an air of indifference. He was worried, of course he was.

"So...What exactly is a ShadowCreature?" I asked haltingly. "Is it a human, or an animal, or some kind of darkly magical thing?"

"All of the above," he replied grimly, and flicked to a page near the end of the history textbook, pushing it over to me.

On the page were several different illustrations of...well, creatures. They couldn't be described any other way. Some was humanoid but with fangs and claws, able to shapeshift or become invisible, they were also known as Vampyres. Others were hunched and travelled on four legs-but were as large as a man when upright, and much, much stronger, a cross between a chimera and a boar with ugly, twisted faces. Yet more hardly seemed to have faces at all, and were lizard, serpent-like things with huge jaws and tiny, black, beady eyes. The list went on, mostly descriptions and pictures taken from the Indian legends. They were varied in almost every way possible from things that could fool you into thinking they were sweet or normal to creatures you needed only one glance at to know they were the enemy of everything good or light about the world. There was only one thing that bound them together- a twisted kind of Dark magic and a constant thirst for blood and violence.

"They don't look very friendly," I noted, and he smiled tightly at me.

"No, they don't."

"If they are here...What does that mean?" I asked, feeling his eyes bore into mine, unable to hold their gaze for too long, but even less capable of pulling away.

"More attacks," he replied. "Lots more, and soon." A sharp rap on the door made me nearly jump out of my skin as Viktoria Hook, who was fourteen and looked distinctly like a smaller, nicer copy of her brother peeked in the door. She had dark auburn hair that was cut short in a pixie do, and a mischievous look on her face I did not trust one iota. As far as fourteen year olds go, she was cool, wearing ripped black jeans, a cut-off bloodred shirt that peeked at her midriff and banged up, shin-high black boots.

"Some people are here for you," she informed me, and I rose, puzzled. James handed me my books, the expression on his face back to unfathomable, contrary to the emotion I had seen only minutes earlier. He seemed afraid to show his true feelings, but in the same breath, afraid not to.

"I'll see you around," I said quietly, feeling a little stupid. "And-James?" I called, he arched an eyebrow.

"Just-thanks. For telling me." He nodded back.

"You didn't hear it from me," he muttered, then turned and disappeared down a corridor. I followed Viktoria up through the staircase and more hallways to the deck, where two people were waiting for me, their silhouettes on the railing. I rolled my eyes, because I knew exactly who it was, then turned to Viktoria.

"Thanks, Vik," I told her with a smile, she nodded.

"'S cool. Oh, and Ally?" She asked, then blushed a little. "Could you...Could you tell Kane I said hi?" She blurted out, and then covered her mouth as if she couldn't believe what she'd just said. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Yeah, sure thing." I wasn't a very good matchmaker, that fact had been proven time and again, but I'd be damned if they wouldn't make an amazingly cute little couple. She nodded, by now her cheeks as bright red as her shirt, and disappeared. I crossed to the two people waiting on the opposite side of the deck, sitting on the railing talking and shoving each other, staring out into the sunset that was splashing over the port and town.

"Hey," I drawled, and four faces looked up at me.

"Ally-bear!" Said a cheerful voice than belonged to Sam, the youngest of the duo. He had scraggly sun-bleached blonde hair that desperately needed a cut, or at least a wash, and was short but skinny. He was about twenty-five, a good bit younger than the other.

"Did he really send two of you?" I asked disbelievingly. Quinn, my father's best friend, smiled a little.

"Why d'you ask, Miss?" He asked teasingly, elbowing me. "Am I interruptin' something here?" He said archly, his voice gruff but full of humor. I rolled my eyes as we jumped off of the boat and flew towards my home.

"Yeah, right. How've you been?" He nodded silently, and I studied him affectionately. He was slightly older than my dad and had a potbelly that came from years of far too much beer and flying. Quinn and Sam were two of the dozen or so outcasts known affectionately to Neverland as the Losties. They'd been thrown out of the town years and years ago, and then thrown out of the nomadic Wildwood clans for fighting, drinking and just generally being a pain in the ass. They were awesome, I'd practically grown up with them as uncles and older brothers. Quinn was the oldest, most were about thirty or so, and I loved them dearly. They'd had strong ties with the Pan family for centuries, and became backup for the Guardians whenever it was needed- which it never had been. A cold shiver ran down the back of my neck. I knew Dad was having them escort me back because of the attack, it wasn't exactly rocket science, but it irked my pride though I tried not to let it show. Clearly it did show, though, because as we landed on the porch, Sam shook my shoulder firmly.

"Oi. It's only for yer own good, Al," he told me sternly. "Don't you be causing too much trouble. Unless it's for the Hooks," he said as an afterthought. "Then, give 'em hell," he said grinning, and I couldn't help but laugh. Sam could always cheer me up, even in this situation.

"Don't worry, lass," Quinn said firmly. "We'll catch this bastard, and then all will be well." But in the dim light of the setting sun, all three of us knew he was lying. James's words rang darkly in my mind and resonated deep down within me.

_"More attacks. Lots more, and soon."_

**So this was a super long chapter, I'm really proud! Over three thousands words! I hope y'all enjoyed it, please keep reviewing! It **

**makes me write so much faster! **

**Em xx**


	11. Chapter 11: In our midst

**First of all a quick apology. I was looking back through the previous chapter and found a few spelling mistakes, sorry about that. It**

**was nothing big but enough to make me feel bad...I'll triple check next time!**

**The "Losties" or lost boys as they were originally are older because Neverland is more civilized and it might be weird if there's a lot **

**of young boys running around the forest with Abe... In chapter 10 they were originally four come to pick Ally up but I thought that **

**that was a little overkill and I was trying to get it finished quickly and didn't want to invent four new characters at one...But there is **

**one mention of "four" in there, please ignore it.**

**Also, I finally found a picture to represent the cover! I have to say I think it's pretty damn awesome, just what I was looking for...:)**

**PLEASE, give me some feedback, I'd like to know how I can improve. I've worked it out and with my current ending this is going to **

**be a long story, probably 30+ chapters, so if I'm in it for the long haul then I think it's only fair to get some constructive criticism **

**from you lovely people.**

**ALSO: Let me know if you'd like to see an alternate POV sometime soon. Any character you're interested in that I haven't touched on **

**much, like a family member? Or an unknown bad guy could maybe be fun... I might put a poll up, but otherwise PLEASE let me know!**

The afternoon was waning, the sun hadn't quite set, it was about ten minutes before dusk. I was sitting in a big oak tree overlooking the lagoon, absent-mindedly listening to the river-and its mermaid inhabitants-babble.

"Hey, Ally!"

Called one of them, I looked down. It was Riley, a beautiful red-haired, pale skinned mermaid with violet eyes and a long tail to match. She was sitting on one of the rocks, desperately trying to tan.

"Yeah?"

"Are they any closer to finding the attacker?"She asked, and the others perked their ears up. I sighed.

"Nope."I had gone out with my Dad all of yesterday and today, scouring every last part of the island, and it had proved to be useless. The attack had been as sudden as it had been violent, and the attacker had simply melted into thin air afterwards. She frowned.

"We haven't seen much over here. I talked to Jasmine-one of the Indians-a while ago, and she said they hadn't seen anything, either,"she said, her tone troubled.

Keep your eyes open, I advised, and, standing up stretched, realising I should get home. Then I groaned. Mom had asked me to pick up some groceries when I went out, but that had been at two o'clock and she'd have kittens if I went now. Yes. Kittens, and then probably a litter of puppies, then maybe a cow. I glanced at the position of the sun, and gauged I could make it to the corner shop and back in about ten minutes and thus only receive a first-degree lecture.

"See you later," I called, and they giggled and waved. Shaking my head at their antics, I landed in the main street, which was nearly empty by now. People were packing up their carts and stalls, it had just been another Sunday market. I made my way inside and wandered around trying to remember the list- being the genius I was, I'd jumped in the lagoon and now all that was left of it was grey mush in my pocket. I bought three loaves of break and two bottles of milk, plus a big carton of eggs-food goes like the speed of light in my house, it's basically war, and then hefted my brown paper bag onto my hip and walked out of the store, pausing to stuff the change into my pocket. Then, I heard it. About two streets down, the clanging of metal dustbins, and somebody's yell, a horrified yell that became choked halfway through. A sick feeling went straight to my stomach as I followed the noise.

"Help!" Cried the voice, and dodging a few carts, it took me two or three minutes to locate the voice. A man was crumpled on the ground on all fours in the poorly-lit back alley. He looked to be about fifty years old with the startings of grey hair, kind brown eyes and a labourer's clothes. I didn't know him, but I had a pretty good guess what had happened. My groceries long-forgotten, I crossed to him.

"What happened?" I asked frantically, and as he turned to face me, I saw it. The horrible, sickening red mark in his stomach, spreading fast up his coarse white shirt. I fought not to be sick and scrambled for something to stem the bleeding.

"Help!" I shouted. "Help! Somebody's been stabbed!" I heard people come running and turned to him, watching the light fade slowly out of his eyes as I held him upright.

"Listen to me," I said firmly. "You are going to be alright, sir." I watched in horror as the faintest-smile?-crossed his face and he grasped my hand.

"Pan," he whispered.

"Do you know who attacked you?" I asked quickly as his eyes started to flutter. "Please, who attacked you?" I said, this time desperately. He shook his head, but locked his gaze with me, holding my hand.

"G-guardian," he managed, before his eyelids closed and I felt his body relax. That was the second footsteps reached us and people's horrified screams filled the ally. Numbly I let other people take him, then turned on my heel and ran. I ran so fast, so hard, as if I could run back through time and make it so that it had never happened. Make it so that I had left a few minutes earlier, and then maybe I would have been able to catch the attacker. The one work swirled around my brain as I ran. _Guardian._ What did that mean? Before I knew it, I found myself in a familiar place, but with no idea why I chose this one to come to. I landed on the deck of the ship with a thump, and still with the momentum of flying, crashed into the door, which would have to suffice for a knock. I banged desperately a few times and heard footsteps on the other side as the door was flung open and my favourite-insert sarcasm-Hook appeared.

"Why are you here?" He asked, and was probably about to insert a snarky comment, but I cut him off before he could.

"What do you think?" I retorted. "I've come to borrow a cup of milk." There was a pause, and he must have read my expression.

"Where?" He said quietly. I sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm my shaking.

"Corner of High Street and Fourth." He nodded grimly.

"I'll get my father. Did you tell the others?" I felt sick at the memory of watching the man die beside me and hugged my arms around my stomach as if that could help prevent me from throwing up. Wordlessly, I shook my head.

"No," I managed. "I came here, I just"-I broke off, and stared at the ground, feeling him step closer, and then put a hand on my shoulder. I looked up into those dark eyes that seemed surprisingly concerned.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly, and, averting my gaze, I nodded. He nodded back and disappeared, returning moments later with his father. Not waiting for niceties I turned and ran off the deck, knowing they were following. Edward immediately began to try and get the crowd back as people came to remove the body and the police began to mark off the area. I couldn't stay. I felt terrible, so guilty, like this was all my fault. I could not believe that here, less than ten minutes ago, somebody had died. That less than ten minutes ago, a ShadowCreature had calmly walked down this street and stabbed a man to death. I turned again and ran, this time with a purpose. I had to find the Darlings. Within moments I was at their house, it was only minutes away from here. I banged again on the door and this time, Mike opened it.

"Ally?" He greeted me, cautiously but politely.

"There's been an attack," I said flatly. "You need to get your father and come with me." But John Darling, and Will, were already at the top of the stairs listening, and came down quickly, following me to the scene. A police officer was talking to Edward.

-"We need to find whose bag this is," he said gruffly. "The attacker probably dropped it."

"They're mine," I interrupted. He turned his sharp gaze to me.

"You, Miss Pan? What were you doing here?" He asked harshly. I clenched my jaw, hating the fact that he seemed to be implicating I'd been the one to do this.

"Well, that man kind of did die in my arms," I said coolly.

"You found him?" Will asked, and I barely nodded. He crossed to me and put a tentative arm around me.

"Hey. It's alright." The officer stepped closer.

"Miss Pan, I'm going to have to detain you," he told me, and fury rose in my stomach.

"How d-"I started, and felt Will's arm tighten around my shoulders as he finished it for me.

"How dare you," he said coldly. "You think she could have done that?" He said sharply. The officer hesitated.

"No. But she was the only witness. She'll have to stay behind." I met his eyes and nodded, but the concern didn't fade from his. He squeezed my shoulders a little bit and let me go, and a few police officers sat me down on the steps of a building. I told them everything I'd seen and was just getting to the guardian part when somebody ran up.

"Hey, Boss, you need to come see this," he said quickly, and both of the men rose, I followed. They walked back down the street to where people with flashlights had began to search the back alley. It was a dead end, and there was a big brick wall where the street ended. Etched on the wall in what looked horrifyingly like blood were words, in the same ornate calligraphy that the other words had been written in.

_The predator walks amongst you._

Suddenly I heard my father's voice behind me, and turned to see both my father and mother.

"Jesus. What happened here?" My father's voice was hoarse with worry, and caught me up in a quick, strong hug.

"Honey, are you okay?" My mother asked, and squeezed my shoulder. The police officers quickly filled them in and I told my story again.

"And you didn't see anything, Miss Pan?" An officer repeated again, and I tried not to lose my nerve-or my temper-as about a dozen faces looked to me.

"No. I-I asked him if he saw the person, though," I said tentatively.

"What did he say?" The officer prodded, whilst my father shot him an annoyed look. I shook my head.

"He said the word Guardian." Immediately, whispered broke out within the crowd and the police exchanged glances.

"Interesting. Especially with the words written on the wall." My mother's eyes narrowed.

"Are you insinuating my daughter had something to do with this, Officer?" She snapped, and he gulped.

"No ma'am. I apologize." She smiled tightly.

"We'll leave you gentlemen to continue the search around here as you see fit. The Guardians will meet tomorrow morning, and if you require my daughter for questioning, you may see her then. For now, all of us are going home. It is not safe to be on the streets so late." The officers didn't dare to argue with her, and with a few words to my father about meeting at the Hook's place tomorrow, James and Edward left. Will caught my arm as I went to leave.

"I'll see you tomorrow, right?" He asked, still looking concerned, and I smiled half-heartedly.

"Yeah, I guess so." He nodded.

"Okay. Ally, it wasn't your fault," he told me quietly. "You did the right thing." I nodded.

"I know, I think." He nodded, his expression serious.

"Good. Get some rest," he told me kindly, and I managed a little more of a smile, and turned to follow my parents. We arrived back to a grave-looking Andre, and I explained, in a few words, what we had learned. With a heavy heart I climbed the stairs and changed into my pyjamas, curling up with the blanket. I couldn't stop the images from swirling around my brain, the horrible, graphic pictures, the memory of the man dying as I watched. But that was the worst part-watching. Knowing there was nothing I could have done to help him tortured me as I ran over the memory, searching for anything, anything at all I had seen that might help us to find the attacker. Cold settled thick upon my heart when I thought of his last word. Guardian. And then the writing on the wall; when put together, those two became a scary possibility. A guardian couldn't have done that, could they? One of us? One of the people Neverland relied on, trusted implicitly to protect at all costs? The possibility that one of the people who had been there tonight could have had knowledge of what had happened terrified me. _Who could have done such a thing, and why?_ My brain screamed. Why would any guardian do that? Just then my father came into my room, startling me. He smiled a little.

"I thought you might still be up." He passed me a glass of water, I nodded in thanks. He met my gaze and squeezed my hand.

"I'm proud of you, Scout," he murmured. "What you saw was something...nobody should ever have to see. You did ore than I could have ever expected. You acted like a real guardian." I bit my lip.

"I don't know if that's such a compliment anymore," I said quietly. His eyes hardened.

"Scout, the writing...It isn't true," he told me firmly. "No Guardian would commit such an atrocity. The Darke creature that did that was trying to plant seeds of doubt within people. If it works, it will weaken us, and we cannot let that happen. This is why we must join together even stronger." I nodded, but could sense the unease in my father's eyes, the slight bit of doubt in his tone. Who, after all, were we to know what went on behind closed doors, away from the rest of the world. How could anyone know who anyone else really, truly was, and what they were out to win or lose?

"You aren't sure, are you?" I murmured. "You say that, but you don't know for sure." He sighed tiredly.

"I think we must all tread carefully. One wrong move could send us all falling."

**Hope you liked it! It would mean soo much if I could have a few reviews, even just one or two! It would take two seconds and they **

**make my day, plus I get to know what I can improve on! Want an alternate POV? Longer/shorter chapters? More action? More of a **

**certain person? Only one way to get it...REVIEW!**

**Em xx**


	12. Chapter 12: Poll

Just to let people know, there is now a poll somewhere on my page (under polls section, I guess,) for readers to vote on what POV they'd like

me to write in the next few up-and-coming chapters. I may do one or two different POVS per chapter, I'd like to know what you people think! If you'd

prefer, just leave a review with your choice on this update if you can't be bothered looking at the choices! I think this is a super opportunity for me to

give another few characters some meat if you know what I mean...I love writing Ally but I feel I need to mix it up a bit, so I have to develop the story

a bit more and stop being a lazy bum :) LET ME KNOW! This is a story for you guys at the end of the day, so your opinions matter 100% :)

Em xx


	13. Chapter 13:A Dance, A Promise, An Attack

**AN: Hi! Here's the next chapter. I've tried to make it a mix of POV's, I think I do need to get a bit of a broader viewpoint out there. I did struggle to get in to the other character's heads a little, it isn't as natural for me as it is to write Ally's POV, so bear with me. This will be a pretty long chapter, so leave me some love!**

* * *

**Mia Darling's POV**

I smiled, looking up from my novel as I heard my husband unlock the door. Swinging myself out of the armchair I met him at the stairs and my heart went out to him. He looked worried-so, so worried. The third attack had happened yesterday, and the timeframe between them was becoming closer and closer-nearly a week had separated the first and second, but only four days between the second and third. It unnerved me to think that my children had to walk the same streets as a murderer, though I usually managed to keep the calm demeanour I was known for.

"Hello, love. How was your day?" I asked as he gave me a rather absent-minded kiss on the cheek and sighed, walking into the immaculate kitchen to pour himself a drink.

"Not good, Mia. They are becoming more daring." He looked up and raised the bottle. "Whiskey?" I laughed and shook my head.

"A gin and tonic would be nice." He nodded and set about making my drink. I would usually never drink anything more substantial than white wine, but under these circumstances, a little bit of liquor couldn't hurt.

"Any leads so far?" I asked, settling myself back on the sofa next to him.

"No, and that's what is so damn infuriating," he replied. He shook his head. "No use to mull over it. How was your day?"

"Better than yours, it sounds. That horrid man from the newspaper called on me again though, he wanted a comment from one of the Guardians." I laughed. "Apparently he found the Hooks too intimidating and you know how elusive Abe can be when he wants to."

"What did you tell him?"

"Just that none of us would be making any comment, and that we would notify them when we had a statement." He nodded.

"Perfect. It's understandable, though. The town is frantic. I've arranged for a meeting tomorrow morning at nine in the hall, to brief folks on security measures they can take. Jane will be there as well." I smiled.

"Good." Jane had long been a friend of mine, and a woman I looked up to and admired. She, like me, was the rock of her family, but was more hard-headed and no-nonsense than I was. Her daughter, on the other hand...

"What's wrong?" John asked, laughing. "Did you swallow that lemon I put in your drink?"

"No," I said, trying unsuccessfully to be cross with him. "I was just thinking about Ally Pan and Mirella. Heavens, I'm so glad they aren't friends any more." My husband laughed heartily.

"Ally is a good girl."

"Hardly," I interjected, and he gave me an amused look. "Don't you know, she's been suspended three times!"

"Her heart is in the right place." I nodded in hesitant agreement, but then frowned again.

"I'm glad our daughter is much more sensible, and doesn't go traipsing around town getting herself in all sorts of trouble. Why, if Ellie'd been out on the streets at a time like that, I should've had a fit!" I complained.

"They are very different," he agreed. "They come from different families." I had to agree, our families could hardly be farther apart, even though our relations with them had always been better than relations with the Hooks. Ours was a family based on reason and sensibility, loyalty and practicality. We were a family of cohesion and unity-we were all alike, and a very close knit bunch. I loved my three sons dearly, but Mirella had always been the proverbial apple of my eye. She was so much like me, I could not have asked for a better daughter. The Pan family, on the other hand...The children seemed half-wild at times, and I was becoming a little concerned with their influence over Frankie, my youngest. But I had to agree-for the most part, their hearts were in the right place.

"What do you think of Ellie and Andre?" I asked, smiling inadvertently. The pair had become increasingly close in the past fortnight or so, and as we spoke they were together at a concert at the school. I did like Andre; I had seen him act with nothing but kindness to my daughter, and that was enough for me.

"I think it's an excellent thing they are becoming closer," John replied. "Now is not the time for relations to become strained. The Pans are powerful". I arched an eyebrow.

"You sound like it's the Middle Ages, dear! What need do we have of alliances anymore?" He shook his head ruefully.

"You're right, it's just that...With the message..."He trailed off, and I inhaled sharply.

"Don't speak of that. None of them would do that."

"I know," he said, trying to placate me. "I'm just commenting that in such times, having strong relationships with the Pans can only be a good thing." I nodded, appeased.

"Yes, I suppose. Ought I be encouraging Mike or Will to take a fancy to the eldest Hook, then?" I teased, and watched my husband's eyes widen, and he chortled.

"Hardly."

"Will likes her," I stated. "He's quite fond of Miss Pan," I clarified, and tried to keep the sourness out of my tone. It was hardly my place to pry into my son's affairs, but he had been rather obvious at the first meeting. I couldn't really see why, either- he had schoolmates falling over their feet to get to him and yet the strange, stubborn Ally Pan seemed to have a firm grasp over him.

"They'd complement each other," he remarked. I laughed dryly.

"He'll have to work a bit harder, then. James Hook seems to be quite smitten." My husband burst into laughter.

"That dark haired boy? _Smitten_ with Aliandra? You, my dear, are imagining things." I had to smile. Smitten was hardly a word that should be applied to the boy-it was too soft and he was anything but. To be honest, he scared me sometimes with his dark eyes and unreadable expressions that only seemed to lift when a certain Miss Pan was around. I flattered myself that I was remarkably good at reading people, but much as I tried, he kept his emotions on a careful guard.

"I'm quite convinced, I replied. You should pay better attention." He thought back, his brow wrinkling.

"Perhaps you're right. Well, then the sentiment is clearly not returned," he said, chuckling. "If looks could kill, James would be in trouble." I smiled indulgently.

"Yes, but enough gossip. Turn on the stereo!" He grinned at me and jumped up to set the record, and then we swayed gently to the tinkling music for a while, letting the worries of our respective days wash over our heads for now.

* * *

**Mirella POV**

"Well...thank you for a wonderful evening," I said smiling as I stood at my front door.

"The pleasure's mine. You dance beautifully, with or without a partner," he told me, and I blushed.

"Stop that." I caught his hand. "How are you getting home?" I asked anxiously, my heart speeding up at the thought of him walking through the darkened, treacherous streets alone. If something should happen to him...He squeezed my hand.

"I'll fly, remember? Much more fun." He winked. "I'll take you flying over the weekend, if you'd like."

"Oh! Yes please!" I all but squealed. "Could we go to the lagoon? I'd love to go. I haven't been in ages," I said quickly, then realized I was rambling, and blushed again. He looked pleased, and swept me a bow.

"Whatever milady wishes", he intoned gravely, and I giggled.

"You're so cute." He smirked at me, stepping a little closer.

"Mmm. Likewise," he murmured, and began to kiss me, I laughed.

"No," I gasped in laughter. "Andre, we can't, my parents"...I trailed off into laughter, and kissed him back. After a fashion he opened the door for me, and his kind brown eyes lit up in the warm, welcoming light of the hallway.

"Until tomorrow," he said with a golden sideways smile I loved. I shook my head at him, still smiling.

"That's right. You just home safe." He chuckled, and with a wave, walked back down the street. I watched him go smiling, then skipped up the stairs.

"Somebody's happy," my mother commented, giving me a telling glance. "Would a certain Pan be the reason, I wonder?" She inquired, and I blushed.

"She's only joking, darling," my father told me, squeezing my shoulder. "Did you have fun?"

"Lots," I replied enthusiastically. "Where are the boys?"

"Ellie!" Cried a young voice, and my youngest brother gave me a tight hug.

"Hi, Frankie", I said laughing. Frankie was ten years old and had the most beautiful caramelly curly hair with big blue eyes always shining with mischief. He doted on me as much as I did on him, I'd always loved to take care of him when he was younger.

"Have you eaten?" I asked him he shook his head.

"Nope. I thought I'd wait for you. Mummy said I could." My heart warmed at the love in his eyes.

"That's very kind of you," I told him. "Shall we eat?" He nodded eagerly and we sat down to my mother's chicken pie as we chattered. That was one of the things I loved about him-he could be so much wiser than his years whilst still being an incredibly sweet and caring little boy.

"Ellie," he asked me, his mouth still full.

"Swallow first," I reprimanded affectionately, and he complied.

"What's a Shadow-Creature?" He asked, and my stomach twisted. I had hoped he wouldn't ask, but he was a smart boy and playground gossip was bound to reach his ears.

"It's a very bad creature," I replied, trying to be as honest as I could without frightening him. "You needn't worry about them." He frowned.

"But they've been doing bad things, haven't they?" He asked.

"Yes, they have," I said gravely. "But Daddy and Mummy and the other families are going to make sure they go away. You don't need to worry, I promise". He still looked uncertain, so I tried to lighten up his mood.

"I've always kept my promises, haven't I?" As his face brightened and he nodded, I wondered in the back of my mind if this was a promise I'd be able to keep.

* * *

**Another POV**

"Come on, ladies, you oughtn't be out this late!" The officer on the corner barked at us.

"Oh, shut your mouth," my mother said fondly, giving the officer a poke in his sizeable stomach. "No creature's gonna whisk us away, isn't that right, girls?" Lizzie and I nodded in agreement.

"Get on your way," the officer said gruffly, sounding amused, but tired. "I shan't be wanting to scrape any of your pretty faces off of the road." My mother waved this away as he winked to Lizzie, my cousin who was about twenty-five, and currently red as a beet. She shook her dark curly hair to hide her flaming cheeks, and we walked quicker.

"That's where it happened," I told her in a hushed voice, pointing to the alleyway where the O'connely man had been killed. My mam shivered, and crossed herself quickly.

"Come on, Flick," she told me sharply. "Isn't right to be ogling."

"Yes, mam," I muttered, shifting the shopping from one shoulder to the other. "But do you think it's true? That one of the guardians had something to do with it?"

"Rubbish," my mother scorned. "What would anybody gain by doin' something like that? It's a load of gossip and you oughtn't be paying it any attention, Felicity Chambers." I nodded my agreement, but by now I'd really seemed to have set her off. Lizie interrupted her, though, which was a blessing.

"I was out here on that night," Lizzie said quietly, and both our heads turned. "I d'know if was my imagination, but I was packing up the watermelon cart, walking the other way, when I saw a few people come out of that old building on the corner-y'know where Mr. Salinger used to have the fishmongers?" We both nodded. She continued.

"Well, I thought-jus' for a moment, that it was one of those Darling boys stepping out of there, with somebody else in a dark coat. It was just getting dark, the light was all funny and I couldn't see right, and then somebody stepped in front of me, but I thought they walked towards that alley. I couldn't be sure, but," she finished, sounding troubled. My mother shook her head.

"It can't be," she argued. "The Darlings are a well-respected family, and both those boys have a heart of gold. And looks to match," she said as an afterthought, I rolled my eyes. Sometimes I thought my mother was fifty going on fifteen.

"I know," Lizzie said, her face downcast. "I was just so sure..."She trailed off, walking behind us.

"Do hurry up," my mother called to her, but this time fondly. "Your mother won't be pleased if you're not home before half-past." We quickened our pace, eager to get back into the safety of my aunt's house. I knew my mother wouldn't admit it, but she was less at ease on these streets then she let on- who wouldn't be? And there had been those whispers, the horrid rumours about who and what were doing those awful things... A few quiet minutes later we arrived at Aunt Tati's place, and my mother rang the bell.

"There we are, Lizzie!" She said cheerfully, turning around. "Flick, where's Lizzie?" She asked, her tone getting more and more panicked by the second.

"I-I don't know," I stammered. "She was right behind me." We were both silent for two or three heartbeats, trying to convince each other that this could not possibly have happened. Not to Lizzie. Not to us. Just that moment, my aunt opened the door, and inside radiated warmth and light that seemed taunting and sinister.

"Rhonda? Flick? Where's Lizzie?" She asked, still smiling a little bit.

"She's gone," I choked. "She was with us, and then she-she disappeared." Tati frowned.

"No, she wouldn't just..."She trailed off as she paled. "Oh. Oh my. What on earth could have happened to her?"

Then, she got her answer as an ear-piercing, awfully familiar scream echoed through the streets.

**Long chapter! Tell me what you thought...I know it probably wasn't as exciting as other ones, but I thought the Darling POV was important, the other one I just tried for fun. Will maybe do a Hook one next... **

**I worked really hard on this chap, would love a few reviews!** **Means a lot :)**

**Em xx**


	14. Chapter 14: Oatmeal Cookies & a Warning

**Hi Guys! Haven't updated for a while, sorry 'bout that. I've been super busy...Here's the next chapter. I'm aiming for one or two**

**reviews for this, so help me out here! I tried to write a few different POV's as a challenge, let me know how you liked them!**

* * *

**Viktoria POV**

"So you actually saw her?" I asked in awe. Kane nodded.

"Yep. It was gross. She had scratches all over her and a big one right here." He pointed near his heart. I shuddered.

"That's awful." We walked a bit longer in silence down the road, scuffing our shoes. I had invited Kane back to our place for a snack, plus we had to do our science assignment together. Plus it kinda didn't hurt that he was, like, super cute, and really sweet as well. He was tall for fourteen, a little taller than me, and skinny, too. He had a sunny tan from days in the air or in the water, and freckles on his nose. I liked his eyes the best, they were an ocean bluey-green.

"Hey, Kane!" Yelled a voice, and we turned. It was his older sister, Ally, walking with a few of her friends. "You okay to fly home?" She asked, and he blushed a little.

"Fine, Ally," he muttered. She rolled her eyes.

"Don't get agro at me. Not my fault if you get eaten."

"C'mon," I told him, pulling him away before he could retort. If they got into an argument, Ally would win for sure. Not only was she a capital-b-badass, she was smart as well. We got to my house and his eyes brightened.

"This is so cool, Vik. I can't believe you live on a _boat_." I laughed.

"Yeah, I guess it beats a normal house," I teased, and he shoved me playfully. "You hungry?" I asked, crossing into the kitchen, dumping my schoolbag on the ground. He nodded eagerly.

"Hi mom!" I said brightly, waving at her. She looked like she'd had a busy day-papers were scattered all around her, she looked frazzled.

"Hi, Vikkie," she said, looking up from what she was writing to give me a smile. "There are cookies on the counter if you're hungry." She cast a look at Kane, and raised her eyebrows, smiling at me. I blushed.

"Hi Mrs Hook," Kane said politely. She smiled at him.

"Hello, Kane. Call me Diana." James walked in and quickly spied the cookies, smirking at me.

"Oatmeal and chocolate. Nice, mom," he called, and stole about five.

"Hey!" I protested, and he gave me a grin, trying to ruffle my hair, but I dodged him. I tried to wrestle the cookies away from him but he held on tight, tickling me to make me let go.

"Jerk," I told him, passing Kane two of the four cookies that were left. "It isn't like you need them", I told my brother, who gave me a lopsided oatmeal smile.

"Growing boy," he managed with a grin as I looked at him disgustedly. Boys. Did they ever learn not to talk with their mouth full? Noo.

"Yeah, sure," I muttered, and we went outside to sit on the deck, swinging our legs over the edge and soaking in the warm sunshine.

"Are you scared?" I asked him after a while. He shrugged, but then nodded.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah," I said quietly. We sat in a comfortable, thoughtful silence for a while longer before he groaned, standing up to stretch his long legs.

"C'mon. We aren't getting our assignment done by sitting here."

**(AN: What did you think of the softer side of James? I know I liked it! )**

* * *

**James POV**

"I'm going out to the Wanderers," I told my father, who glanced up and nodded.

"Alright. That saves me some trouble, I've business tonight. Be careful, son." I rolled my eyes as I left the boat and headed into the forest. I knew that the Wanderers would probably be on the west side at this time or year, so once I was in the forest I started to head that way. They were strange people-not quite like the Indians, more mysterious and cryptic, less friendly. I was interested in the legends and tales they had about ShadowCreatures and figured that if anyone would know what was going on these days, it might be them. I walked for about twenty minutes, then flew some, and was nearing the camp when I heard a whistle of wind in the near-silent forest. My instincts pricked and I turned, hearing a twig or two crack as footsteps neared me. Ducking behind a tall, thick tree I waited, and then saw a flash of colour pass as I realised who it was.

It was-rather, had been-Ally-maybe she'd been to see the wanderers as well? Didn't seem likely, she was running parallel to the camp, not to or from it. Feeling like an idiot, I checked around, making certain that she wasn't running from something. A completely irrational fear overcame me as I imagined the D'Laqua girl, or the one found just a few nights ago, but this time, in my head, it was Ally's face, Ally's blood...I shuddered, shaking off the stupid thought, and continued.

"Summer," I said curtly, reaching the edge of the camp, and the colourfully-dressed middle aged woman nodded at me.

"Go in. Raine and Harlan's tents are next to the campfire. They are expecting you." I rolled my eyes. Of course they were. Raine and Harlan were the nomadic leaders, and also mystics. Apparently, the rumours that they had special gifts had some merit, but I'd always believed they were to be taken with a healthy dose of salt. Aware of the many eyes on my back as I walked through the simple campsite, weaving through children and animals, I entered the tent.

"Come in, Hook," said the musical voice of Raine. I entered, grimacing when I smelled the incense.

"We expected you," said Harlan's voice. Both were old with white ahir and strange golden eyes, yet had young features only aged by a profound kind of wisdom.

"You are here to ask us if we have any knowledge of the DarkCreatures," Raine said. I nodded. Well, I thought. At least there's no beating around in the bush. She continued.

"Our kind do not work like this. We know many things, but the time for knowing is not yet here."

"I understand," I began to say. "But I come on behalf of the Guardians. Surely you've heard about the attacks." Both faces sobered.

"A great tragedy, Harlan said gravely. And many great tragedies yet to come." The way Raine regarded me, with knowing eyes made me uncomfortable. She seemed to be able to see deeper into me than I was comfortable with. Suddenly she smiled.

"I like you," she said suddenly. _Oh, Brilliant. Do me a favour, and give me a straight answer, will you?_ "You have a good heart. In time, you will have to choose whether to use it or not. You are capable of great goodness, but also great darkness."_ What?_

"I don't understand," I said flatly. "But the ShadowCreatures-"

"-Walk among us," Harlan said harshly. "Monsters, young man, do not always take the shape of a beast. They may be people you trust and respect. A friend, a mentor, a-he smiled knowingly-pretty girl."

"The Guardians would be wise to listen to what the shadow creatures say," Raine chimed in. "In their own way, they are wise. Much like the Wanderers, they are capable of Foresight, but whilst ours is clear, theirs is flawed. They are here, as you know, but not in great numbers. They walk our lands, swim our waters and fly our skies."

"Did you see them?" I urged, thinking-_stupidly_-that I might be getting somewhere. _Think again, sonny boy._

"I See many things," Raine said tiredly. "I see our past, our future. I see many different outcomes- all different, all dangerous. There is war coming."

"We have not Seen where they hide," Harlan said brusquely. "They hide themselves well."

"The real danger comes not from the ShadowCreatures," Raine said quietly. "It lies within the Guardians of Neverland themselves. United, the Darkeland might be vanquished. Divided, Neverland as we all know it is doomed to fall."

* * *

One headache later I stumbled from the tent, my head spinning. They seemed to suggest that the Guardian Families were planning to turn on each other. _War is coming. _Those words rang in my head. Against who? For what? Why? I walked slowly, trying to straighten out the hidden meaning behind those words. Suddenly coming back to the real world, I groaned as I saw a group of people ahead. It was the Losties, and relations between my family and them had been strained at the best of times-and this was certainly not the best of times. About four of them were there, and as I tried to sidestep, not looking forwards to this confrontation, Riley blocked my path.

"Hook. Where've you been?" He challenged. I shrugged.

"None of your business."

"Actually, it is," he shot back. I sighed, exasperated.

"To the Wanderers. That good enough for you?" Clearly not, because he stepped closer, eyes narrowed.

"You stay the hell away from them."

'Nothing stopping me," I said lightly, trying to humour him.

"What did they tell you?" Another one, Niro, called. He was about my height, with get black hair and dark skin. I shrugged again.

"Not much. I asked about the ShadowCreatures. Got a half-hour of mumbo-jumbo in return." A few of them chuckled with me, but Niro crossed his arms.

"Edward sent you on Guardian business?" He asked, skepticism clear in his tone.

"So what?" I challenged, my temper rising. It took quite a bit to get my temper up, and these guys were making fast work of doing so. My consolation was that I seemed to be having the same affect on them. Niro shoved me, I shoved him back.

"Don't touch me," I growled.

"Stay away from the forest," he growled back. "You stay away from Ally, as well."

"Whoa!" Yelled another voice as both of us were shoved away from each other. Ally glared at both of us, then the others.

"What were you lot doing, enjoying the show?" She snapped. They grumbled, some looked a little sheepish. She turned her gaze to me.

"What the hell's going on?" She demanded. I shrugged.

"He started it."

"Good thing I'm finishing it, then," she retorted. "God, you're all such _asses_." I glanced down at her, and realised she must have still been running, and ran straight in to us. She was barefoot, wearing cutoff denim shorts and a red tank top, her cheeks flushed from the exertion of running and telling us off. _Jesus. Focus, James_, I told myself. _Now's not a great time to be checking her out._

"Where've you been?" She asked, her tone slightly less aggressive.

"I went to see Harlan and Raine," I told her. Her brow crinkled.

T"he Wanderer's?" I nodded. "And?" She asked.

"Not very much. Told me there's ShadowCreatures here. Nothing we don't know."

"Great," she muttered. "I'm going with Dad to the Indians tomorrow. Maybe that'll be more useful." One of the Losties-Sam?- put an arm around her shoulder, and a surge of-jealously?-filled me, embarrassingly strong.

"Let's go. Going to be dusk soon," he told her. She rolled her eyes, clearly not relishing the fact that she couldn't be out along in the forest too late. Even though she knew the risks very well, she was fiercely independent, something that never failed to intrigue him.

"Fine. Race you home," she challenged, and both took off between the dark green trees, laughing. I turned to head back home, and Niro stepped closer to me, his black eyes dangerous.

"I see how you look at her," he growled. "Stay away from her. If you hurt her, we'll hurt you." I frowned and began to retort, but he shook his head.

"Consider this your warning, Hook," he told me abruptly, and then turned, striding back into the forest.

**That was developing James's character a little more, I didn't think I was doing him justice. It felt kind of wierd writing him, though, **

**I'm so used to writing female POV's! So...Who's the bad Guardian? What should happen next? All will be revealed... I'll try to update **

**sometime this week, but I need a few reviews first! **Hint Hint****

**Em xx**


	15. Chapter 15: OMG

**Sorry this UD took so long. School's been hectic, my computer crashed and all my files are GONE, and also I recently took on a beta-**

**ing job for CheekyLittleVampire. If you read Vampire academy, you should check her out, she's amazing! Anyhoo, here's the next **

**chapter. Tell me what you think!**

* * *

I looked furtively out of my nook in the very corner of the gym where I was busy hiding.

The years 10, 11 and 12's all were supposed to be taking dance classes, as of today, and with my dancing track record I had decided to bow out gracefully before things got ugly. I snickered at my friends as they bubbled and stumbled to the music awkwardly with their partners. _Sucks to be you. Majorly_. Skylar, my most uncoordinated friend, shot me daggers and I poked my tongue out in return. He made a stupid face back and I ducked behind my wall in a silent fit of laughter when the dance teacher, Ms. Artelaris, intercepted our exchange-or rather, Sky's exchange with the air behind her. Darcey, of course, was one of two highlights of the show-Mirella Darling being the other one. Both floated effortlessly around the floor-Mirella with a lovestruck boy two years younger than her, and Darcey with a similarly lovestruck one in the grade above.

The song ended and the teachers began to give more instructions, mostly along the lines of _"pick up your feet, idiots," _with a few references to a hoard of elephants, as well. As another song started I watched a familiar dark head approach the dance teacher, and immediately I had a sinking feeling that this would not be good. James Hook exchanged a brief word with the teacher who spun, outraged, in my direction, meeting my eyes a second before I could duck behind the wall. _Oh no you didn't, buster, _I thought, cringing, but when I heard irritated footsteps, it became clear that _oh yes he did. _

"Aliandra Pan!" She cried in disbelief, outrage clear in her tone. "What _are_ you doing?"

"I'm…" I stalled, biting my lip, and then shook my head. "Nope. Sorry. I've got nothing". She grabbed my wrist, hauling me up towards the floor where I was 100% sure my imminent death awaited.

"Participation is extremely important," she lectured me.

"I can't dance," I said tiredly and she snorted.

"If I had a dollar for every time I'd heard that." She smiled at me. "You'll be just fine, dearie." I shook my head.

"Okay, I gave you fair warning," I muttered. Her smile faded somewhat and I remembered she used to teach at the dance school I'd attended.

"Just...try," she told me, trying to feign confidence. I nodded and she walked away. I stalked past James, who, though in conversation with a few other people, looked at me with laughing eyes. When I shoved him with my shoulder, hard, I got only a chuckle in reply, and when I looked back over my shoulder, he winked at me. _Oh holy jesus, what that wink can do to me_, I thought, a little queasily. Maybe Darcey had been right about him. Oh, who was I hiding, Darcey was completely right. The guy was freaking hot and, not that I'd ever admit it, _completely_ my type. _Focus, Ally_, I chanted to myself. _Now's so not a great time to be checking him out. _I jumped a little as I felt a hand clap on my shoulder, and turned to see Will. Impulsively, I smiled as he gave me a mischievous grin.

"You. Me. Dance floor, now," he told me, already dragging me out there. I rolled my eyes but complied, very aware of the zillions of death glares directed at me from the female population of the gym.

"Is that how you usually ask people to dance?" I asked light-heartedly, and he laughed.

"No, but I thought you'd likely hit me if I used some cheesy pick-up line on you," he said, his eyes twinkling. "Was I right?"

"Very," I agreed, and easily took his hand. My stomach lurched at the electricity that seemed to play on my skin. _ Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, after all. If I could stay on my feet without treading on his…_

"Ahh!" He yelled and I jumped, realizing I'd trod on him. Already? _Wow. Smooth move, Al_. I flushed immediately, but, seeing his amused expression I rolled my eyes.

"Big baby," I deadpanned, and my embarrassment passed quickly. All too soon the song ended and the dance teacher announced that class was finished, much to relief of the general population._ Apart from me. _

"What do you have now?" Will asked, breaking the companionable, comfortable silence that we'd danced in. I groaned.

"History, I think. You?" He grinned, and immediately my heart gave a-flutter?

"Spare. The joys of being a senior." I shook my head in mock disgust as we walked out of the gym together.

"Hey…Ally," Will said hesitantly, and I watched uncertainty flicker across his features. "Can I ask you something?" I shrugged.

"Shoot."

"Did you…I mean, do you, would you", he shook his head, smiling ruefully. "What I'm trying to say is…Would you like to do something after school?" His cheeks flushed a little. "Get ice-cream or something?"

W-H-O-A. Definetly did not see that coming. I caught myself just before my jaw could shoot open, and resisted the urge to glance behind me in a "_who, moi?" _ fashion. Go out to eat the best thing in the world, ever, with one of the hottest guys in the whole entire school? _Nah, sorry, I've got homework. _Clearly, playing hard to get wasn't going to be my best tactic.

"Are you kidding? I'd love to," I said, smiling. His eyes brightened.

"Great! I'll meet you at the gates after class," he told me, and, nodding we went our separate ways. _Did I just agree to go out on a date with Will Darling? _No, I scolded myself. No, you didn't. _You will go and eat ice cream together, and after witnessing firsthand how much ice cream you are capable of consuming in one hit, he will never want to speak to you again. _Darcey crashed into me at high speed, causing me to fly-no pun intended- sidewards into the wall of a classroom.

"Ohmigod. Who was that, what did he say to you and where can I get me one?" She all but squealed. I rolled my eyes.

"His name is Will Darling, he asked me to ice-cream and don't say it like that, it's creepy," I told her. She looked at me in amazement.

"Since when have you known him?" She socked me in the shoulder. "You've been holding out on me, cow!" I blinked. Darcey did not namecall. _Ever_. In the history of the world. _Shit had clearly just got very real._

"Darce, it's no big deal."

"It's a huge deal," she countered. "Aw, my little Ally-bear is growing up," she crooned, and tried-unsuccessfully-to pinch my cheek, mischief in her eyes.

"Why am I friends with you again?" I muttered, and she smacked me. Wow. A shove, a name call and a smack in one day? _Who are you, and what have you done with my best friend?_

"Now. Don't you dare order a triple banana sundae," she warned me. "Nothing like five thousand calories in a bowl to lose a guy". I chuckled.

"That assumes he does like me."

"Of course he does!" She said, sounding outraged. "Who knew you were such a charmer?"

"I'm not going to grace that question with an answer," I told her. "And if you decide to hide behind the bushes at the shop, remember I know where you live." Her mouth popped open in surprise before she shrugged, giggled shamelessly, and skipped off to her own class.

**(AN: Do you like where things are going with Ally and Will? What about James? Let's find out...)**

* * *

**JPOV**

_Well. Didn't that backfire like a motherfucker. _Not only did Ally Pan spend the rest of that stupid class with Darling, she now had a date with him. _Nice work, kid_, I congratulated myself. I told myself again that I really, really shouldn't care whatever went on between him and her, tried to tell myself that I didn't care, but it was in vain.

"You swallow a lemon?" My friend Nick asked me, and then, following my line of sight, turned to look at me with wide eyes. "Whoa! Do you-"

"Shut it, I warned him," and he cracked up into helpless laughter.

"That little firepot? She's insane, dude. And Darling's got his hands all over her."

"Oh, really?" I said dryly. "Thanks. I hadn't noticed." He chuckled again.

"Besides, you can do better. She's one crazy bitch on wheels," he added, still grinning. I swung around on him, blocking his path, and without thinking shoved him-hard. Maybe a little too hard, he crashed into a few people which had a subsequent stumbling version of a domino effect.

"Don't call her that," I snapped, a little too quickly, ignoring the snippets of abuse thrown at me from people who'd become the collateral damage of my outburst. When I saw his smug expression I groaned, realizing fully well that he didn't mean it, he'd just been trying to rile me up, and it had worked to perfection.

"If you say anything to anyone, I will hunt you down," I promised with gritted teeth. He held his hands up in defense, still smirking.

"Easy, tiger. I won't say a thing. Not that anyone would believe me." He chortled again. "You and _Pan_? That's unbelievable. Straight out of a book," he told me, and with one last grin, walked off.

* * *

**So...The beginnings of a cute couple and a VERY green eyed monster! Do you want to see the ice-cream scene? Wasn't planning on it **

**but if y'all request it I'll do it! Let me know if you liked it :)**

**Em xx**


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